Steady solutions of inertial film flow along strongly undulated substrates

Steady flow of a liquid film along sinusoidal, steeply corrugated walls is investigated by finite-element simulation of the 2D Navier-Stokes equations. Resonance between the wall and capillary-gravity waves travelling against the flow defines a critical Re and separates the flow into a subcritical a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysics of fluids (1994) Vol. 23; no. 5; pp. 052103 - 052103-13
Main Authors Nguyen, P.-K., Bontozoglou, V.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Melville, NY American Institute of Physics 01.05.2011
Subjects
Exact sciences and technology
Fluid dynamics
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Hydrodynamic waves
Physics
Streamlines
Flow separation
Digital simulation
Periodic oscillation
Falling film
Liquid layer
Film flow
Thin films
Finite element method
Free surface flow
Inertia
Modelling
Wavy wall
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Summary:Steady flow of a liquid film along sinusoidal, steeply corrugated walls is investigated by finite-element simulation of the 2D Navier-Stokes equations. Resonance between the wall and capillary-gravity waves travelling against the flow defines a critical Re and separates the flow into a subcritical and a supercritical regime. Steep corrugations trigger extensive flow separation in both regimes. However, the separation characteristics-most notably the limiting behavior for very thin and very thick films-vary because of the different significance of capillary forces in the two regimes. For very steep corrugations, two intersecting solution branches co-exist. The present computational predictions are compared favorably with independent experimental observations.
ISSN:1070-6631
1089-7666
DOI:10.1063/1.3591154