LIFE TIME OF NONTHINNING LIQUID-FILMS - INFLUENCE OF THE SURFACE-WAVES SPATIAL CORRELATIONS

On the basis of the theory of stochastic processes the evolution of the spatial correlation function of the surface waves on a thin liquid film as well as the corresponding root mean square amplitude A(t) and number of uncorrelated subdomains N(t) are obtained. A formulation of the life time-tau of unstable nonthinning films is proposed, based on the evolution of A and N. It is shown that the presence of uncorrelated subdomains shortens the life time of the film. Some numerical results for A(t), N(t) and tau at different film thicknesses h and areas S, are demonstrated, taking into account only van der Waals and capillary forces.