Curvature suppresses the Rayleigh-Taylor instability
Fluid Dynamics
2014-09-26 v2
Abstract
The dynamics of a thin liquid film on the underside of a curved cylindrical substrate is studied. The evolution of the liquid layer is investigated as the film thickness and the radius of curvature of the substrate are varied. A dimensionless parameter (a modified Bond number) that incorporates both geometric parameters, gravity, and surface tension is identified, and allows the observations to be classified according to three different flow regimes: stable films, films with transient growth of perturbations followed by decay, and unstable films. Experiments and theory confirm that, below a critical value of the Bond number, curvature of the substrate suppresses the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1401.4362,
title = {Curvature suppresses the Rayleigh-Taylor instability},
author = {Philippe H. Trinh and Hyoungsoo Kim and Naima Hammoud and Peter D. Howell and S. Jonathan Chapman and Howard A. Stone},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.4362},
year = {2014}
}