Dynamics of Viscous Thin Films (2015)
Undergraduate: Nathan Vaughn
Faculty Advisor: Jeremy Marzuola
Department: Physics & Astronomy
Understanding the behavior of thin, viscous films is integral for many engineering and biological applications. In this case, we are investigating a viscous thin film on the inside of a cylinder, an analogous situation to oil flowing through a pipe. Liquid plugs form when the average film height reaches a certain level. Plugs may be undesirable for efficient fluid transport, be it the viscous film such as oil or the core medium such as air. Understanding when the liquid plug formations occur will allow engineers to more effectively balance pipe designs and flow rates. The differential equations governing thin film flows are nonlinear and cannot be analyzed analytically; therefore we must simulate the thin film flows numerically and ideally verify the results experimentally. I use a combination of numerical techniques (pseudospectral codes, ODE solvers, and continuation software) to analyze the parameter dependent behaviors of the thin film surface.