Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T17:28:06.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Thin liquid layers supported by steady air-flow surface traction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

A. C. King
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Keele, Staffs FT5 5BG, UK
E. O. Tuck
Affiliation:
Applied Mathematics Department, University of Adelaide, S.A. 5001, Australia

Abstract

Upward flow of air can support a thin layer of liquid on a plane wall against gravity. Such apparently stationary layers are for example sometimes seen on the windscreen of a car travelling at high speed in rain. We solve here the two-dimensional case of a layer whose length is finite, but significantly greater than the meniscus length. The flow is steady, with a fixed layer boundary, inside which there is a steadily circulating viscous liquid, and outside which the air exerts a traction which is assumed to have a known (small) constant drag coefficient CD. The air also exerts a non-uniform pressure on the liquid layer, of a magnitude determined by the shape of the layer, and the relationship between these two quantities can be obtained by thin-airfoil theory. In the lubrication approximation, the problem can be reduced to a nonlinear singular integro-differential equation to determine the unknown shape of the layer boundary. This equation is solved numerically for various (small) wall angles, for cases where the effect of surface tension is confined to a small meniscus region near the layer's leading edge. The numerical results indicate that solutions exist only for walls whose inclination is less than 0.70 C½D, and, for a range of inclinations below that maximum value, that two distinct steady solutions can exist at each inclination.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1993 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acheson, D. J. 1990 Elementary Fluid Dynamics. Clarendon.
Atherton, R. W. & Homsy, G. M. 1976 On the derivation of evolution equations for interfacial waves. Chem. Engng. Commun. 2, 57.Google Scholar
Cameron, A. 1966 Principles of Lubrication. Longmans.
Durbin, P. A. 1988 On the wind force needed to dislodge a drop adhered to a surface. J. Fluid Mech. 196, 205222.Google Scholar
King, A. C., Tuck, E. O. & Vanden-Broeck, J.-M. 1993 Air-blown waves on thin viscous sheets. Phys. Fluids A 5, 973978.Google Scholar
Moriarty, J. A., Schwartz, L. W. & Tuck, E. O. 1991 Unsteady spreading of thin liquid films with small surface tension. Phys. Fluids A 3, 733742.Google Scholar
Newman, J. N. 1977 Marine Hydrodynamics. MIT Press.
Princen, H. M. 1969 The equilibrium shape of interfaces, drops, and bubbles. InSurface and Colloid Science (ed. E. Matijevic & F. Eirich), vol. 2, pp. 184. Interscience.
Tuck, E. O. 1991 A criterion for leading-edge separation. J. Fluid Mech. 222, 3337.Google Scholar
Tuck, E. O. & Schwartz, L. W. 1991 Thin static drops with a free attachment boundary. J. Fluid Mech. 223, 313324.Google Scholar
Tuck, E. O. & Vanden-Broeck, J.-M. 1984 Influence of surface tension on jet-stripped continuous coating of sheet materials. Am. Inst. Chem. Engng J. 30, 808811.Google Scholar
Van Dyke, M. 1964 Perturbation Methods in Fluid Mechanics. Academic.