The spreading of thin liquid films on a water-air interface

Abstract

The spreading on a water–air interface of a thin liquid film is examined for the situation in which surface tension gradients drive the motion. A similarity solution is obtained numerically for unidirectional spreading when some general restrictions concerning the form of the liquid film constitutive relation is made. This solution gives the size of the film as a function of time and also the velocity and thickness distribution along the spreading film. Experiments are performed which show good agreement with the theory.