Modeling the stability of thin liquid film flows on a uniformly heated slippery inclined substrate: A realistic approach

Abstract

We investigate the stability of gravity-driven, Newtonian, thin liquid film falling down a uniformly heated slippery rigid inclined wall. The authors of previous research works considered specified temperature (ST) boundary condition to study the effects of slip length. However, the ST boundary condition does not include the effects of heat fluxes at wall–air and wall–liquid interfaces and so fails to incorporate the real situation. Consequently, we consider heat flux/mixed-type boundary condition as the thermal boundary condition on the rigid plate. This boundary condition involves the heat flux from the rigid plate to the surrounding liquid and the heat losses from the wall to the ambient air. Using long-wave expansion method, we construct a highly nonlinear evolution equation in terms of the film thickness at any instant. Using normal mode approach, the linear study reveals the stabilizing (destabilizing) behavior of the wall film Biot number (dimensionless slip length). It is found that the destabilizing tendency of the slip length is more in the absence of thermocapillary stress. The linear study reveals that the destabilizing role of MB may be controlled to some extent by increasing the wall film Biot number Bw. Using asymptotic expansions of the flow variables in terms of the small wave number k, the Orr–Sommerfeld boundary value problem gives an onset of instability in terms of critical Reynolds number. It slightly differs from that of the same as obtained by Benney's long-wave expansion method, due to the consideration of small free surface Biot number [B=O(ϵ)]. For arbitrary wave numbers, using Chebyshev spectral collocation method, the effect of Marangoni number (Ma), slip length (δ), and wall film Biot number (Bw) on the H, S, P, and shear modes of instability are discussed in detail. Near the threshold, both Ma and δ show the destabilizing effect on H mode of instability, whereas Bw gives the stabilizing effect. Interestingly, their roles on H mode of instability becomes diametrically opposite far from the onset of instability. For S mode, both Ma and Bw display the destabilizing effect, whereas δ plays the dual role. For P mode, both Ma and δ show the destabilizing effect, whereas Bw plays the stabilizing role. The slip length (δ) plays the stabilizing role, in the case of shear mode. In the absence of thermocapillary effect, the vorticity balance at the liquid–air interface explains that the amplitude of the vorticity perturbation amplifies the surface deformation due to the presence of inertia and the slip length. In the absence of the slip length, a weakly nonlinear study transforms the evolution equation to the famous Kuramoto–Sivashinsky (KS) equation.