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A new type of instability: explosive disturbances in a liquid film inside a rotating horizontal cylinder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2003

E. S. BENILOV
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Limerick, Ireland
S. B. G. O'BRIEN
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Limerick, Ireland
I. A. SAZONOV
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics, University College Cork, Ireland Present address: School of Engineering, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK.

Abstract

We examine the dynamics of a thin film of viscous fluid on the inside surface of a cylinder with horizontal axis, rotating around this axis. An asymptotic equation is derived, which takes into account two orders of the so-called lubrication approximation. The equation admits a solution describing a steady-state distribution of film around the cylinder, and we examine the stability of this solution. It is demonstrated that the linearized problem admits infinitely many harmonic solutions, all of which have real frequencies (are neutrally stable). On the other hand, there are non-harmonic solutions that ‘explode’ (develop singularities) in a finite time. Systems having solutions of both types simultaneously have never been described in the literature. An example of this phenomenon is the main result of this paper.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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