ON THE RUPTURE PROCESS OF THIN LIQUID-FILM

This present work aims at researching the rupture process of thin liquid film of viscous Newtonian fluid on a horizontal plane. First, we use a numerical method to solve the nonlinear evolution equation derived by Williams and Davis. The numerical results reveal that the rupture processes can be divided into two parts; one is the slow weak nonlinear process which almost dominates the whole rupture time, and the other is the rapid strong nonlinear process which just occupies a little rupture time. Second, we use the weak nonlinear theory to solve the nonlinear film equation, and modify this method to match the real process. Eventually, we can obtain the approximation analytical solutions which could predict the nonlinear film rupture time more quickly and correctly. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.