Viscous liquid film flow down an inclined corrugated surface. Calculation of the flow stability to arbitrary perturbations using an integral method

Abstract

Viscous liquid film flow along an inclined corrugated (sinusoidal) surface has been studied. Calculations were performed using an integral model. The stability of nonlinear steady-state flows to arbitrary perturbations was examined using the Floquet theory. It has been shown that for each type of corrugation there is a critical Reynolds number for which unstable perturbations occur. It has been found that this value greatly depends on the physical properties of the liquid and geometric parameters of the flow. In particular, in the case of film flow down a smooth wall, the critical waveformation parameter depends only on the angle of inclination of the flow surface. The values of the corrugation parameters (amplitude and period) were obtained for which the film flow down a wavy wall is stable to arbitrary perturbations up to moderate Reynolds numbers. Such parameter values exist for all investigated angles of inclination of the flow surface.