Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95

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Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics

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Falling film on flexible wall in the limit of weak viscoelasticity

Jie Peng a, Yang-Jun Zhang b,⇑, Wei-Lin Zhuge b
a
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, PR China
b
State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The flow dynamics of an upper-convected-Maxwell (UCM) falling film down a flexible vertical wall is
Received 15 December 2013 studied in the limit of weak viscoelasticity. A set of Benney-like weakly nonlinear equations for the film
Received in revised form 8 June 2014 thickness and wall deflection, which is valid for small flow rate, is derived based on the long-wave theory.
Accepted 11 June 2014
It shows that the unstable role of liquid viscoelasticity is equivalent to that of the flow inertia. A set of
Available online 20 June 2014
asymptotic evolution equations valid for moderate flow rate is obtained based on the integral theory.
The linear instability property of the system is examined by using a normal-mode analysis. It shows that
Keywords:
the liquid viscoelasticity acts to destabilize the falling film even for the flow with inertia being negligible.
Viscoelastic liquid film
Flexible wall
The nonlinear evolution equations for the moderate flow rate are solved numerically. The spatio-tempo-
Flow instability ral evolutions of the liquid–air interface and flexible wall are examined. It is concluded that the liquid
Solitary-like waveform viscoelasticity plays a role to strengthen the dispersion of the initial imposed perturbation. It can pro-
mote the traveling speed of the solitary-like humps and suppress the front-running ripples at the same
time. Both the wall damping and wall tension acts to suppress the fluctuations of the flexible wall. How-
ever, they play different roles in the evolution of the liquid–air interface.
Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Newtonian liquid-film over a flexible wall. Based on the long-wave

theory, a set of coupled equations for the film thickness and sub-
Falling film occurs in various technical processes, environmen- strate deflection was derived with a small flow Reynolds number.
tal sciences and everyday life [1–3]. It has been studied over past In addition, a set of equations coupled for the film thickness, sub-
decades both experimentally and theoretically. Much of this work strate deflection and film volumetric flow rate was also presented,
has been summarized in a book [4]. For the flow with small Rey- which is valid for moderate Reynolds numbers. It was pointed out
nolds number, it is feasible to develop a long-wave weakly nonlin- that decreasing the wall damping and/or wall tension can promote
ear equation like Benney [5] or Kuramoto–Sivashinsky [6] the development of chaos or severe substrate deformation. Sisoev
equation. For the flow with moderate Reynolds number, a coupled et al. [15] revisited this problem with evolution equations being
system of evolution equations for the film thickness and volumet- re-derived through the Shkadov approach. The results can be
ric flow rate can be derived alternatively [7]. Khayat [8] studied the reducible to those for the flow of a falling film on a rigid wall.
influence of substrate topography on the transient flow field of the A vast majority of studies on thin-film flow problems were
coating film. It was concluded that the topography of the substrate devoted to the flow of Newtonian fluid. The film flow of non-New-
has a drastic effect on the flow of film. The studies cited in the brief tonian fluid attracted less attention over the past. In recent dec-
review above have all considered the liquid film flowing over a ades, the flow of viscoelastic fluid, a subclass of non-Newtonian
rigid wall. In recent years, the dynamics of falling film over flexible fluids, has emerged as a research subject of great interest. The vis-
walls are of interest since it occurs in a wide range of situations. coelastic nature of most polymeric fluids can give rise to new
These include the modeling of airflow in pulmonary airways mechanisms, which can affect the flow instability caused by capil-
[9,10], the use of rubber-covered rolls to reduce defects in a coating lary or inertial forces [16]. From a purely fluid dynamical stand-
process [11,12], and so on. It is expected that the wall flexibility point, the viscoelastic fluid exhibits a great deal of influence on
can have a considerable effect on dynamics of the falling film the normal and shear stresses in flow film. It is expected that the
[13]. Matar et al. [14] considered the dynamic behavior of falling liquid viscoelasticity can have a considerable effect on dynamics
of falling film. On a more applied level, viscoelastic fluids are
⇑ Corresponding author. widely used in analysis to characterize the lubrication behaviors
E-mail address: yjzhang@[Link] (Y.-J. Zhang). of bearings, gears and cams. Gupta [17] studied the instability

[Link]
0377-0257/Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
86 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95

properties of a falling viscoelastic liquid film and concluded that

the viscoelasticity can destabilize the film flow. Similar results
were also obtained by Shaqfen et al. [18] for the film flow with
small Reynolds number. However, for moderate Reynolds num-
bers, it was pointed out that the viscoelastic effects are primarily
stabilizing. Andersson [19] considered the steady laminar film flow
of viscoelastic Walters’ liquid down a vertical wall. The resulting
analytical expression for the film thickness reveals that the visco-
elastic film grows up faster towards the downstream asymptotic
traveling wave state than that of the Newtonian film. Khayat
[20,21] studied the effect of substrate topography on the flow of
Oldroyd-B film. It was concluded that the topography of the sub-
strate has a drastic effect on film flow. Besides, they also claimed
that the liquid elasticity had a significant effect on both the steady
state and transient behavior of the system. Sergey [22] studied the
viscoelastic flow over a step-down topography in the presence of
inertia. It was pointed out that liquid viscoelasticity has a mono-
tonically decreasing effect on the height of a capillary ridge. Pavli-
dis et al. [23] simulated the flow of the viscoelastic film, which was Fig. 1. Schematic of the problem.

modeled with an exponential Phan-Thien and Tanner (ePTT) con-

stitutive equation, over 2D topography by using a mixed finite-ele-  
@u @u @u @p @ rxx @ ryx
ment method. Again, for the flow with weak viscoelasticity, it was q þu þv ¼ þ þ þ qg; ð2Þ
@t @x @y @x @x @y
concluded that the capillary ridge decreases with increasing of vis-
coelasticity. However, for the flow with relatively strong viscoelas-  
@v @v @v @p @ rxy @ ryy
ticity, the situation is reversed because the shear and elongation q þu þv ¼ þ þ : ð3Þ
thinning become more important. @t @x @y @y @x @y
In this study, we consider a viscoelastic free-surface liquid film Here, p and q denote the pressure and density, g is the gravitational
flows over a flexible wall. It extends Matar et al. [14]’s analysis to acceleration, which is assumed to be along x direction, u and v rep-
include the effect of the liquid viscoelasticity. The upper-con- resent the flow velocity in x and y direction, respectively.
vected-Maxwell (UCM) constitutive equation is adopted to model rxx ; rxy ; ryx and ryy denote the component of deviatoric stress ten-
the viscoelastic liquid. For flexible wall, the effects of wall damping sor with ryx equaling to rxy . For UCM fluid, we have the following
and tensions are included with the wall inertia being neglected. expressions [24]
This is the simplest system which couples a restoring force with    
the normal force imposed by the fluid, while the bending stresses @ ryy @ ryy @ ryy @v @v
ryy þ k þu þv  2k ryy þ ryx
are neglected. The effects of flexible wall and liquid viscoelasticity @t @x @y @y @x
on the film dynamics are mainly concerned. The structure of the @v
paper is as follows. In Section 2, we use the long-wave theory to ¼ 2l ; ð4Þ
@y
derive a pair of coupled equations for film thickness and wall
deflection, which is valid for small flow rate. For moderate flow    
@ rxx @ rxx @ rxx @u @u
rate, alternatively, a set of asymptotic evolution equations for the rxx þ k þu þv  2k rxy þ rxx
@t @x @y @y @x
film thickness, volumetric flow rate and the wall deflection is
obtained by using the integral theory. In both cases, the linear
@u
¼ 2l ; ð5Þ
instability analysis is presented in Section 3. The numerical solu- @x
tions to the nonlinear system are presented in Section 4, and some    
concluding remarks are given in Section 5. @ ryx @ ryx @ ryx @v @u
ryx þ k þu þv  k rxx þ ryy
@t @x @y @x @y
 
@ v @u
2. Formulation ¼l þ ; ð6Þ
@x @y

2.1. Governing equations where k is the relaxation time and l is the zero-shear-rate viscosity.
The flexible wall is assumed to be infinitely long. The wall deflection
We consider a two-dimensional incompressible viscoelastic along x direction is ignored since the wall is assumed to be tethered
UCM liquid film flow down an infinitely long vertical flexible wall and only the long-wavelength perturbations are considered in this
under the effect of gravity force, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Cartesian study. Corresponding dynamics are governed by a forced membrane
coordinate system ðx; yÞ is introduced with the x axis oriented equation [3,9]
downwards along the non-perturbed wall. The y axis denotes
the normal direction. The liquid film with density q and viscosity qw Hw a @f Tw @2f ryy þ f2x rxx
    ¼ p þ pw þ
l occupies the region fðx; tÞ 6 y 6 gðx; tÞ and is bounded by an 1 þ f2x
1=2 @t 1 þ f2x
3=2 @x 2
1 þ f2x
inviscid gas. gðx; tÞ and fðx; tÞ denote the position of liquid–air
2fx rxy
interface and flexible wall, respectively. Thickness of the undis-  : ð7Þ
turbed film is assumed to be h0 . Flow in the liquid film can be
1 þ f2x
modeled by using continuity and Navier–Stokes equations, which Here, the definition of fx is fx ¼ @f=@x. qw , Hw and a denote the den-
are given below sity, thickness, and damping coefficient of the flexible wall. T w is the
wall tension, which remains uniformly across the thickness. pw rep-
@u @ v resents the pressure external to the wall and is assumed to be zero
þ ¼ 0; ð1Þ
@x @y without loss of generality.
 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95 87

   
The remaining boundary conditions are those of no-slip at the @ ryx @ ryx @ ryx @v @u
ryx þ De þu þv  De rxx þ ryy
flexible wall and the kinematic conditions at the liquid–air @t @x @y @x @y
interface
2 @v @u
¼e þ : ð18Þ
@f @x @y
¼ v ; u ¼ 0; aty ¼ fðx; tÞ; ð8Þ
@t Here, De ¼ ekU 0 =h0 is the Deborah number which expresses the
ratio of time scales corresponding to the viscoelastic effects and
@g @g
v þu ¼ 0; aty ¼ gðx; tÞ: ð9Þ hydrodynamic flow. The dimensionless form of the evolution equa-
@t @x
tion for the displacement of the flexible wall is given by
The balance of normal and tangential stresses at the liquid–air
interface are given by / @f ev @2f
  1=2 @t
   3=2 @x2
  g2 rxx  ryy 1 þ e2 f2x 1 þ e2 f2x
c0
p  pg þ x  ¼  3=2 gxx ; ð10Þ
1  g2x 1 þ g2 1 ryy þ f2x rxx 2fx rxy
x ¼ e pþ  : ð19Þ
Ca 1 þ e2 f2x 1 þ e2 f2x
   
gx ryy  rxx þ 1  g2x rxy ¼ 0: ð11Þ Here, v ¼ T w =lU 0 is the dimensionless wall tension and
Here, pg indicates the pressure of the gas, which is assumed to be / ¼ qw Hw ah0 =l is the wall damping coefficient. The dimensionless
zero in the following study. c0 denotes the surface tension and boundary conditions at the liquid–air interface are
the definition of gx is gx ¼ @ g=@x. @g @g
v þu ¼ 0; ð20Þ
@t @x
2.2. Scaling
e g2 rxx  ryy e 1 @2g
The above stated Eqs. (1)–(11) exactly describe the nonlinear p þ x ¼  3=2 2 ; ð21Þ
Ca 1  e gx
2 2 Ca 1 þ e2 g2 @x
x
motion of system and in general require to be solved numerically.
However, this is not an easy task due to the unknown and time-    
dependent motion of both liquid–air interface and flexible wall,
gx e2 ryy  rxx þ 1  e2 g2x rxy ¼ 0: ð22Þ
which are coupled with the complicated boundary conditions. Corresponding boundary conditions at the flexible wall are as
The governing equations and boundary conditions can be non- followings
dimensionalized by letting [22]
@f
    lU 0  1  ¼ v ; u ¼ 0: ð23Þ
1 ^
ðx; y; g; fÞ ¼ h0 e x; y ^ ; ^f ; rxx ; ryy ; rxy ¼
^; g e r^ xx ; er^ yy ; r^ xy ; @t
h0
The above equations involve both e and the dimensionless groups
c h0 ^ h
^ ; v ¼ eU 0 v^ ; t ¼ 0 ^t: associated with wall flexibility / and v, surface tension Ca, Reynolds
p ¼ 02 p ; u ¼ U0 u ð12Þ
l eU 0 number Re and liquid viscoelasticity De. In the following, we focus
Here, e ¼ h0 =l in which l represents the wavelength of a typical on two distinguished limits Re ¼ Oð1Þ and Re ¼ Oðe1 Þ, which corre-
liquid–air interfacial deformation. In this work, we aim to model spond to the flow with small and moderate Reynolds numbers,
the dynamics of long waves, thus e  1. The scale for the pressure respectively.
is obtained by balancing the pressure to the usual interfacial
streamwise curvature gradient due to surface tension in the normal 2.3. Re ¼ Oð1Þ: Long-wave theory
2
stress balance Eq. (10). U 0 ¼ qgh0 =2l is the velocity located at the
liquid–air interface for the unperturbed state. Hereinafter, the hats In this case, to ensure that the effects of surface tension, wall
‘^’, which denote the dimensionless quantities, are suppressed for damping and tension, and the liquid viscoelasticity are retained
brevity. The dimensionless continuity and Navier–Stokes are then in the leading-order dynamics, we rescale the dimensionless
given by groups Ca; v; / and De as follows [14,15]

@u @ v f
Ca ¼ e2 Ca; ~
v ¼ e2 v~ ; / ¼ e1 /; f
De ¼ e De; f
Re ¼ Re: ð24Þ
þ ¼ 0; ð13Þ  
@x @y f v f Re
~ De; f ¼ Oð1Þ. The physical variables,
Thus, we have Ca; ~ ; /;
    which can be expanded with e as the perturbation parameter, can
@u @u @u e3 @p 1 @ rxx @ ryx 2
e þu þv ¼ þ þ þ ; ð14Þ be expressed as [16]
@t @x @y ReCa @x Re @x @y Re    
u; v ; p; rxx ; ryy ; rxy ¼ u; v ; p; rxx ; ryy ; rxy 0
     
@v @v @v e2 @p e @ rxy @ ryy þ e u; v ; p; rxx ; ryy ; rxy 1 þ Oðe2 Þ: ð25Þ
e2 þu þv ¼ þ þ : ð15Þ
@t @x @y ReCa @y Re @x @y
Substituting Eq. (25) into the governing equations and boundary
Here, Re ¼ qU 0 h0 =lis the Reynolds number and Ca ¼ lU 0 =c0 is the conditions (13)–(23) gives a system of equations, which can be col-
Capillary number. The dimensionless version of the constitutive lected and solved order by order in powers of e. The evolution equa-
model becomes tions for the flexible wall and liquid–air interface, correct to OðeÞ,
   
@ ryy @ ryy @ ryy @v @v @v can be obtained
ryy þ De þu þv  2De ryy þ ryx ¼2 ;  
@t @x @y @y @x @y @2f p p
~ @f  v
/ ~ ¼  0 þ e  1 þ ryy;0 þ f2x rxx;0  2fx rxy;0 ;
ð16Þ @t @x2 f f
Ca Ca
    for y ¼ fðx; tÞ; ð26Þ
@ rxx @ rxx @ rxx @u @u
rxx þ De þu þv  2De rxy þ rxx
@t @x @y @y @x
@g @g @g
@u  v 0 þ u0  ev 1 þ eu1 ¼ 0; for y ¼ gðx; tÞ: ð27Þ
¼ 2e2 ; ð17Þ @t @x @x
@x
88 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95

Here, a weakly nonlinear form of the equations for the system is @2g
obtained. The detailed derivation can be found in Appendix A, p¼ ; ð39Þ
@x2
where the linear first derivative term in Eq. (72) is removed by a
Galilean transformation and rescaling of time rxy  gx rxx ¼ 0: ð40Þ
~x ¼ x  2~t=e; ~t ¼ et: ð28Þ According to Eq. (23), the boundary conditions at the flexible wall
are
This results in the following equations, where the tildes ‘~’ for vari-
x and ~t are suppressed for brevity
ables ~ @f
! ¼ v; u ¼ 0: ð41Þ
@t
@h @h f 8 Re
4 De f @2h 1 @ 4 ðh þ fÞ
þ 4h þ þ þ ¼ 0; ð29Þ The evolution of flexible wall, Eq. (19), can be expressed as
@t @x 3 15 @x 2 f
3 Ca @x4
~ t v 1
/f ~ fxx ¼  p: ð42Þ
2   2 f
Ca
~ @f þ 1 @ h þ 1 þ v
2/ ~
@ f
¼ 0: ð30Þ
@x Caf @x2 f
Ca @x2 Similar to [14,20], we choose a velocity profile, which has the self-
similar form
Comparing Eqs. (29) and (30) with those presented in [14], it can be
found obviously that the effect of liquid viscoelasticity is completely 3q
f ¼ 0, Eqs. (29) uðy; tÞ ¼  ðy  fÞðy þ f  2gÞ: ð43Þ
equivalent to that of flow inertia. Furthermore, for De 2ðg  fÞ3
and (30) can be reduced to describe the falling flow of a Newtonian
film on a flexible wall. Here, q denotes the flow rate in the streamwise direction, which
equals 2/3 for the unperturbed steady state. Substituting the above
2.4. Re ¼ Oðe1 Þ: Integral theory velocity profile into Eq. (33) and integrating from y ¼ f to y ¼ g ,
making use of the continuity Eq. (32), the constitutive Eqs. (35)–
We now turn to another limit with Re ¼ Oðe1 Þ. Similar to Sec- (37), the kinematic conditions (38)–(40) at the liquid–air interface,
tion 2.3, the effects of surface tension, wall damping and tension, and the no-slip conditions (41) at the flexible wall, yields
and flow inertia are retained in the leading-order dynamics, the @h @q
dimensionless groups Ca; v; / and Re are rescaled as [14,20] þ ¼ 0; ð44Þ
@t @x
f
Ca ¼ e3 Ca; ~
v ¼ e3 v~ ; / ¼ e2 /; f
Re ¼ e1 Re: ð31Þ   2 
  f @q þ 6 @ q
Re ¼ 2h þ U  H1 þ H2 þ P: ð45Þ
f v
Similar to previous section, we have Ca; ~ ; /; f ¼ Oð1Þ. Substitu-
~ Re @t 5 @x h
tion of these rescaled parameters into Eqs. (13)–(23), to the leading Details of the derivation procedure are given in Appendix B. Here,
order, we have h ¼ g  f denotes the thickness of the liquid film. The expression
@u @ v of U; H1 ; H2 and P, which represent the contribution of the surface
þ ¼ 0; ð32Þ tension, wall shear stress induced by viscosity and viscoelasticity,
@x @y
and the x-directed normal stress average across the film, are given
    by
f @u þ u @u þ v @u ¼  1 @p þ @ rxx þ @ ryx þ 2;
Re ð33Þ
@t @x @y f @x
Ca @x @y h @ 3 ðh þ fÞ
U¼ ; ð46Þ
f
Ca @x3
@p
¼ 0: ð34Þ
@y 3q
H1 ¼ 2
; ð47Þ
In this study, we consider the liquid in the limit of weak viscoelas- h
f  1). A substantial simplification of the constitutive
ticity (De ¼ De   
model can be achieved with the viscoelastic effects being adiabati- f @ q q @f q2 @f
f order, the ’inver-
H2 ¼ 3 De 2
 3 6 4 ; ð48Þ
cally slaved to the hydrodynamics. To the Oð DeÞ @t h h @t h @x
sion’ of the nonlinear constitutive viscoelastic model can be   
obtained with explicit expressions for the stresses [25] f @ q2 q2 @f
P ¼ 6 De þ3 4 : ð49Þ
@v @x h3
h @x
ryy ¼ 2
@y Combining with Eq. (39), the evolution equation of the flexible wall
 2 !!
2 2 2
f 2 @ v þ @u @ v  @ v þ u @ v þ v @ v
þ 2 De ;
(42) can be reduced to
@y @y @x @t@y @x@y @y2 2  
~ @f ¼ 1 @ h þ 1 @2f
ð35Þ
/ v~ þ : ð50Þ
@t Caf @x2 f @x2
Ca
 2 Finally, we have three coupled Eqs. (44), (45) and (50), which
f @u
rxx ¼ 2 De ; ð36Þ describe the nonlinear evolution of the film thickness, the position
@y
of flexible wall and liquid volumetric flow. It is worthy to note that
!! the velocity distribution in Eq. (43) is the simplest possible profile
@u f @ v @u @2u @2u @2u which satisfies all boundary conditions. Indeed, it satisfies the no-
ryx ¼ þ De 2  þu þv 2 : ð37Þ
@y @y @y @t@y @x@y @y slip condition (41) at flexible wall and also gives @u=@yjy¼g ¼ 0 .
Therefore, according to Eqs. (36) and (37), we have rxx jy¼g ¼ 0 and
The boundary conditions at the liquid–air interface, to the leading
order, can be derived from Eqs. (20)–(22) as follows ryx f ð@=@t þ u@=@x þ v @=@yÞ@u=@y
¼  De . The quantity of
y¼g y¼g
@g @g ryx vanishes since @u=@yjy¼g ¼ 0 is always available from any
v þu ¼ 0; ð38Þ y¼g
@t @x point on the liquid–air interface so that its ‘material derivative’
 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95 89

obviously equals to zero. The tangential stress balance in Eq. (40) is

then naturally satisfied.

3. Linear stability analysis

It is useful to examine the linear stability of the system obtained

in the previous section in order to describe its dynamics. Here, the
effect of liquid viscoelasticity and wall flexibility on the flow insta-
bility is mainly concerned.

3.1. Re ¼ Oð1Þ: Long-wave evolution equations

Consider infinitesimal perturbations of ðh; fÞ in Eqs. (29) and

(30) with normal modes
ðh; fÞ ¼ ðH; ZÞ exp ðikx þ xtÞ; ð51Þ
and linearizing for ðH; ZÞ  1, yields the following characteristic
equation for the growth rate xr ¼ ReðxÞ as a function of the wave-
number k and the relevant parameters f on the growth rate xr and phase speed
Fig. 2. Effect of viscoelasticity De
! ! c ¼ ImðxÞ=k of perturbation for Re f ¼ 1:0; /
f ¼ 5:0; Ca ~ ¼ 1:0 and v
~ ¼ 1:0.
f 8 Re
4 De f 4
k 1þb
xr ¼ k 2 þ 
2
1k 2 : ð52Þ present study, we focus on the weakly viscoelastic state. The liquid
3 15 f
3 Ca k ð1 þ bÞ2 þ 4a2
viscoelasticity still plays an unstable role, although the flow
Here, a ¼ / f and b ¼ v
~ Ca f For xr > 0, the system is linearly unsta-
~ Ca. Reynolds number is moderate. In Fig. 3, for De f ¼ 0, the neutral
ble, while stable for xr 6 0. The first term on the right side of Eq. f ! 0. However,
curve approaches to the origin with k ¼ 0, while Re
(52) denotes that both the liquid viscoelasticity and flow inertia f > 0, as Re
for De f ! 0, the neutral curve approaches to the limit
act to destabilize the flow. The viscoelasticity can induce flow insta- point with k e > 0 (e.g. k e f ¼ 0:1), and the
¼ 0:633 for De
Re!0 Re!0
bility even if the flow inertia is ignored with Re f ¼ 0. This can be value of k e f
enlarges with increasing of De. This indicates that
Re!0
denoted as viscoelastic instability. The last term on the right side the liquid viscoelasticity can destabilize the flow even if the flow
of Eq. (52) indicates the role of surface tension, wall damping and inertia is negligible.
wall tension. For arbitrary wavenumber k, we have It is interesting to examine in some detail the effect of liquid
viscoelasticity on the flow instability. For simplification, the effect
2 1þb
G¼1k 2 2
> 0; ð53Þ of wall flexibility is ignored. We have two roots for the eigenvalue,
k ð1 þ bÞ þ 4a2 which can be expressed as
which decreases monotonically with decreasing of either a or b.  
f  8 Re
ik 12 De f 3
Thus, the wall flexibility, characterized by damping and tension 5
plays a role to weaken the effect of surface tension. x¼  
f  3 De
2 Re f
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
3.2. Re ¼ Oðe1 Þ: Integral theory  
9 þ 4k 3 De
4
f  Re f  16k2 3 De f 2 þ 2 Ree 2  ik 72 Ree
e
Ca
75 5
In this case, we perturb Eqs. (44), (45) and (50) about the unper-    : ð55Þ
turbed steady state with the form of normal modes 2 Re f  3 De f
 
2
ðh; f; qÞ ¼ 1; 0; þ ðH; Z;Q Þ exp ðikx þ xt Þ; ð54Þ Here, the tedious derivation procedure are presented in Appendix C.
3
By setting ReðxÞ ¼ 0, Eq. (55) yields a relation between kc (the
and linearize for ðH; Z;Q Þ  1. This yields a generalized complex
eigenvalue problem (see Appendix C). The maximum value of the
real part of eigenvalue xr ¼ ReðxÞ denotes the growth rate of the
most unstable perturbation mode. Corresponding phase speed is
defined as c ¼ ImðxÞ=k. Fig. 2 shows the effect of liquid viscoelas-
ticity on the growth rate of perturbation. The growth rate of the
most unstable perturbation mode is enlarged with increasing of
f Thus, we can conclude that the liquid viscoelasticity acts to
De.
destabilize the flow. Moreover, phase speed of the corresponding
mode decreases with increasing of De. f For the limiting case with
k ! 0, it shows that c ¼ 2. This means that the infinite long wave-
length perturbation travels with a constant speed, which is two
times faster than the unperturbed state velocity located at the
liquid–air interface.
Fig. 3 presents the neutral curves delineating the boundary
f
between stable and unstable regions in the Re—k plane with differ-
f The unstable region expands while the value of
ent values of De.
the Debroah number is increased. Again, it indicates that the liquid
viscoelasticity plays an unstable role. This may seem to contradict
Shaqfen’s conclusion [18], where the viscoelastic effects are pri- f
Fig. 3. Neutral stability curve in the Re—k plane with different values of Debroah
marily stabilizing for moderate Reynolds number. Actually, in the number De f ¼ 1:0; /
f for Ca ~ ¼ 1:0 and v
~ ¼ 1:0.
90 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95

‘‘cutoff’’ wave number beyond which ReðxÞ < 0) and the system
parameters, which can be expressed as
f
4 Ca 
2
kc ¼ f þ 3 De
Re f : ð56Þ
3
According to Eq. (56), for the viscoelastic liquid, we have
 1=2
f De
kc ¼ 2 Ca f f ¼ 0. This indicates that the flow is
> 0 even if Re
unstable for the perturbations with wavenumber k < kc , and the
instability is dominated by liquid viscoelasticity. For k ! 0, accord-
ing to Eq. (55), we have
   
f  3  3  ik 12 Ree
f  8 Re
ik 12 De 5 5  
2
x¼   þO k : ð57Þ
f f
2 Re  3 De

The phase speed of the unstable perturbation mode is

c ¼ ImðxÞ=k ¼ 2. This is consistent with the results shown in
Fig. 2. Fig. 5. Neutral stability curve in the v
~ —k plane with different values of Debroah
Fig. 4 illustrates the convex neutral curves in the /—k ~ plane number Def for Re f ¼ 1:0, and /
f ¼ 5:0; Ca ~ ¼ 1:0.
with Def being a parameter. It shows that for each Debroah number
f a minimal value of the ‘‘cutoff’’ wave number kc can be
De
observed and it increases with increasing of De. f Physically, this is similar to those being discussed in [14]. Thus, in this section,
indicates that for small /,~ the wall damping acts to dissipate the we focus on the evolution of the system dominated by Eqs. (44),
perturbation energy and plays a stable role. However, according (45) and (50) with moderate Reynolds number, which has to be
to Eq. (81) in Appendix C, while / ~ is in large value, the flexible wall solved numerically. In this study, a sixth-order compact finite-dif-
tends to behavior like a rigid wall. Thus, the wall damping acts to ferences scheme is adopted to approximate spatial derivatives [26],
destabilize the flow again. Fig. 5 shows the neutral curves in the and a six-stage LDDRK scheme is applied for time discretization
v~ —k plane, where the ‘‘cutoff’’ wave number kc increases monoton- [27] with time interval Dt ¼ 104 . In order to determine the nature
ically with increasing of v~ . This may be attributed to the fact that of the solution over a long time, a time series is set up to track the
the flexible wall tends to behavior like a rigid wall with large wall position of both flexible wall and liquid–air interface. Since the
tension. In Figs. 4 and 5, it also shows that the unstable regions perturbation waves evolve both spatially as well as temporally,
expand with increasing of the Debroah number De. f Again, it is con- the spatio-temporal evolution of the external and initial perturba-
cluded that the liquid viscoelasticity can destabilize the flow for tion waves are concerned in the following.
either flexible or rigid wall.
4.1. Evolution of imposed periodic perturbation at inlet
4. Long-term evolution
In this section, the boundary conditions are set in a manner akin
The linear instability analysis described in previous section is to the physical experiment, where the spatial instability of the flow
only valid for early time when the perturbations are infinitesimally is considered. The flow rate at the inlet x ¼ 0:0 is perturbed in the
small. For finite perturbations, the nonlinear terms in the evolution following manner
equations become important. The long-term evolution of the sys-
tem has to be considered. For the flow with small Reynolds num- 2
Q ðt; 0Þ ¼ ½1 þ 0:1 sin ð2pXt Þ: ð58Þ
ber, the film dynamics is described by Eqs. (29) and (30), which 3

It represents the sinusoidal perturbations applied to the film via the

pressure manifold at the inlet [28,29]. The positions of liquid–air
interface and flexible wall at the inlet is assumed to be fixed with
hðt; 0Þ ¼ 1:0 and fðt; 0Þ ¼ 0:0, respectively. The length of the simula-
tion domain is set to be L ¼ 200p. At the exit x ¼ L, an absorbing
boundary condition [30] is imposed in order to minimize the
upstream feedback. X is the non-dimensional angular frequency
of the external periodic perturbation, which has a critical effect
on the downstream waveform [31]. As illustrated in Fig. 6, for the
flow with X ¼ 0:1, after a short distance of initial growth, the inlet
perturbation evolves directly into regularly-spaced solitary-like
traveling waveforms. However, for X ¼ 0:02 and 0:5, it takes a rel-
atively long spatial distance for the inlet perturbation evolving into
solitary-like waveforms, and the upstream wave can catch up the
front one resulting in coalescence, while propagating downstream.
This leads a more complicate evolution procedure for inlet pertur-
bation. Since we are interested in the influence of liquid viscoelas-
ticity and wall flexibility on the evolution of inlet perturbations, the
perturbing frequency in the following is fixed with X ¼ 0:1. The
~
Fig. 4. Neutral stability curve in the /—k plane with different values of Debroah influence of liquid viscoelasticity and flexible wall are simulated
number Def for Re f ¼ 1:0, and v
f ¼ 5:0; Ca ~ ¼ 1:0. with different corresponding parameters.
 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95 91

Fig. 7. The effect of liquid viscoelasticity on the waveform of liquid–air and flexible
wall with different Debroah number De f for Re f ¼ 1:0; /
f ¼ 5:0; Ca ~ ¼ 1:0 and v
~ ¼ 1:0
at time t ¼ 500. The frequency of the inlet perturbation is X ¼ 0:1.

Fig. 8 shows the profiles of both liquid–air interface and flexible

wall for a single solitary-like waveform. It is characterized by a
large hump with a steep wave front and gently sloping tail, pre-
ceded by front-running ripples. The streamlines for the film flow,
which are obtained in the coordinates moving with the traveling
speed of the hump, are also shown. For both viscoelastic and New-
tonian film, a circulation flow generates in the hump and grows
into a comparable scale with the wave amplitude. Comparing
Fig. 8(a) and (b), it is obvious that the ripples in front of the hump
for viscoelastic film are weaker than that for the Newtonian film.
In Fig. 9, the profiles of liquid–air interface the flexible wall and
the deviation of the film thickness h ¼ g  f are presented combin-
ing with the distribution of U; U þ H2 þ P. As we have mentioned
in Eq. (45), U indicates the effect of surface tension in the liquid–air
interface and H2 þ P denotes the influence of liquid viscoelasticity.
The results show that the profiles for the distribution of U and
U þ H2 þ P are very similar, except in the region immediately
before the hump. Thus, it can be concluded that the effect of liquid
viscoelasticity near the steep front of the hump acts to be equiva-
lent to strengthen the surface tension. As a result, the deviations of
the liquid–air interface for the front-running ripples are sup-
pressed. Physically, for each of the traveling hump, large velocity
gradient and hence shear stress occur near the steep front of the
hump. The polymer molecules experience large stretching and
result in strong viscoelastic effect. For the rest part of the wave-
form, H2 , the extra shear stress on the flexible wall attributed to
liquid viscoelasticity, is almost counteracted by the contribution
of the x-directed normal stress P. Thus, the influence of liquid vis-
coelasticity is relatively weak.

4.1.2. Influence of flexible wall

The influence of the flexible wall includes wall damping and
wall tension. As illustrated in Fig. 10(a), increasing the value of wall
Fig. 6. Evolution of inlet perturbation on the liquid–air interface with different damping coefficient / ~ leads to small amplitude waveforms in the
perturbation frequency (a) X ¼ 0:02, (b) X ¼ 0:1, (c) X ¼ 0:5, for flexible wall. The preceding ripples of the solitary-like hump on
Re f ¼ 1:0; De
f ¼ 5:0; Ca f ¼ 0:1; /~ ¼ 1:0 and v
~ ¼ 1:0. the liquid–air interface are also weakened, which may indicate
the decrease of wave components with short wavelength. This
4.1.1. Influence of liquid viscoelasticity could be attributed to the fact that the wall damping can act to
We now turn to discussing the influence of liquid viscoelasticity deplete the deformation energy of the wall deflection, especially
on the waveforms of the liquid–air interface and flexible wall. For for that of the short-wavelength deflection. Furthermore, the
X ¼ 0:1, the inlet perturbation evolves into regularly-spaced soli- weakened preceding ripples correspond to a larger amplitude of
tary-like traveling waveforms, as illustrated in Fig. 7. The results the solitary-like hump owing to conservation of liquid mass. How-
show that the traveling speed of the waveform is promoted due ~ increases to a large value, e.g. /
ever, as / ~ ¼ 5:0, these short-wave-
to the effect of liquid viscoelasticity. For the viscoelastic film with length components are intensified again, and the amplitude of the
f ¼ 0:2, the waveform travels with a velocity chp ’ 2:03, which is
De hump is then decreased according to the conservation of liquid
slightly faster than that chp ’ 1:96 for Newtonian film ( De f ¼ 0:0). mass. This result is consistent with the linear instability analysis,
92 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95

(a)

(b)

Fig. 10. The effect of (a) wall damping with v ~ ¼ 1:0 and (b) wall tension with
~ ¼ 1:0 on the waveform of liquid–air interface and flexible wall for
/
Fig. 8. Profile of liquid–air interface and the flexible wall for a solitary-like f ¼ 1:0, and De
f ¼ 5:0; Ca f ¼ 0:1. The frequency of the inlet perturbation is
Re
waveform with different Debroah number. The streamlines is observed from
X ¼ 0:1. Here, only a single solitary-like waveform is presented.
f ¼ 0:0; chp ’ 1:96 and
moving coordinates with waveform traveling speed chp : (a) De
f ¼ 0:2; chp ’ 2:03, for Re
(b) De f ¼ 5:0; Caf ¼ 1:0; /~ ¼ 1:0 and v
~ ¼ 1:0. The frequency
of the inlet perturbation is X ¼ 0:1. uref indicates the component of relative velocity which shows that influences of wall damping on the film stability
along the x-direction in the moving coordinates. are not monotonic. Fig. 10(b) shows the influence of wall tension
on the waveform. It can be found that increasing the value of wall
tension v~ can also lead to reduce the deflection of the flexible wall.
However, the results show that with the increasing of wall tension,
the preceding ripples in front of the hump are intensified con-
stantly. The amplitude of the hump in the liquid–air interface
decreases according to the conservation of liquid mass.

4.2. Evolution of initial imposed perturbation wave

In this section, the evolution of initial imposed wave next to the

inlet is considered with the following initial condition
h i
hð0; xÞ ¼ 1:0 þ 0:05  exp 5:0ðx  10:0Þ2 ; ðf; Q Þð0; xÞ
¼ ð0:0; 2=3Þ: ð59Þ

This type of initial condition helps us to understand how these nat-

ural waves evolve further downstream. The position of both liquid–
air interface and flexible wall at the inlet x ¼ 0:0 is assumed to be
fixed with hðt; 0Þ ¼ 1:0, fðt; 0Þ ¼ 0:0 and Q ðt; 0Þ ¼ 2=3. The length
Fig. 9. The effect of liquid viscoelastic on the profile of liquid–air interface and the of the simulation domain and the boundary conditions at the exit
flexible wall for a solitary-like waveform with Re f ¼ 5:0; De f ¼ 1:0; /
f ¼ 0:2; Ca ~ ¼ 1:0 are same as previous section.
and v~ ¼ 1:0. The frequency of the inlet perturbation is X ¼ 0:1. Here, only a single The dispersion of the initially imposed perturbation wave is
solitary-like waveform is presented. shown in Fig. 11. At relatively beginning, the perturbation in the
 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95 93

liquid–air interface forms a wave packet, which is transported 5. Conclusion

downstream by the mean flow. At later times, it disperses into sev-
eral capillary waves. The front wave quickly evolves into a solitary- This investigation addresses the spatio-temporal stability of a
like waveform and separates from the wave packet and propagates viscoelastic liquid-film flow down a flexible vertical wall. For the
rapidly downstream. At the rear of the wave system, capillary flow with low Reynolds number, a set of Benney-like weakly non-
waves with small amplitudes are preserved. linear equations for the film thickness and substrate deflection is
In Fig. 11 as illustrated with the dash-dot line, which indicates derived by using long-wave approximation. The results show that
the positions of the front and rear waveforms, the traveling speed the role of liquid viscoelasticity is equivalent to the flow inertia,
of the front solitary-like waveform for viscoelastic liquid film is which acts to destabilize the flow. For the flow with moderate Rey-
faster than that of Newtonian liquid film. However, for the capil- nolds number, based on the integral theory, a set of nonlinear evo-
lary waves at the rear of the wave system, the situation is com- lution equations valid for weak viscoelasticity is developed. The
pletely converse. For the viscoelastic liquid film, the traveling linear instability property of the system is examined by using nor-
speed of the small capillary waves is smaller than that for Newto- mal-mode analysis. The results show that the liquid viscoelasticity
nian liquid film. This is consistent with the results of linear insta- acts to destabilize the flow. The flexible wall with small wall damp-
bility analysis, where the phase speed (traveling speed) of small ing plays a stable role to suppress the short wave perturbations.
perturbation wave decreases with increasing of De. f In summary, The wall tension, on the contrary, acts to destabilize the flow.
it can be concluded that the liquid viscoelasticity can promote Moreover, the nonlinear evolution equations for the flow with
the traveling speed of the front wave but retard the rear wave. In moderate flow rate are solved numerically. The results suggest that
a sense, the liquid viscoelasticity plays a role to strengthen the dis- the liquid viscoelasticity plays a role to strengthen the dispersion
persion of the initially imposed perturbation wave. of the initially imposed perturbation wave. It acts to promote the
traveling speed of the solitary-like humps and suppresses the
front-running ripples at the same time. Though both the wall
damping and tension acts to suppress the fluctuations of the flex-
ible wall, they play different roles in the evolution of the liquid–air
interface. With increasing of the small wall damping, the preceding
capillary ripples in front of the solitary-like hump can be sup-
pressed, firstly, then strengthened as the wall damping increases
to a large value. However, as increasing the wall tension, the pre-
ceding capillary ripples will be intensified.
In this study, the procedure employed to derive the averaged
set of equations is limited to the flow of viscoelastic liquid film
with small Deborah number. This may be remarked that the non-
linear viscoelastic properties of the liquid do not play a significant
role in describing physical situations. In the next future, a direct
numerical simulation for the film flow of viscoelastic liquid will
be carried out based on sharp interface method, which will throw
more light on the viscoelastic effects.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees whose com-

ments and suggestions have enriched the contents of the paper.
We acknowledge the support from the NSFC Grants No. 11172152.

Appendix A

Here, the tedious derivation procedure is omitted for brevity

and the results of leading zeroth order (e0 ) can be derived and
expressed in the form
 
u0 ðgÞ ¼ 2gðg  fÞ  g2  f2 ; ð60Þ

@f @g @f
v 0 ðgÞ ¼  ðg  fÞ2 þ 2ðg  fÞ2 ; ð61Þ
@t @x @x

@2g
p0 ðfÞ ¼  ; ð62Þ
@x2

rxx;0 ðfÞ ¼ 0; ð63Þ

@f
ryy;0 ðfÞ ¼ 4ðg  fÞ ; ð64Þ
Fig. 11. Evolution of the initial imposed perturbation wave on the liquid–air
@x
f ¼ 0:0 and (b) De
interface during the time interval 0 < t < 173 with (a) De f ¼ 0:2,
f ¼ 1:0; /
f ¼ 5:0; Ca e ¼ 1:0 and v
ryx;0 ðfÞ ¼ 2ðg  fÞ: ð65Þ
for Re e ¼ 1:0. The dash-dot line indicates the position
1
of the front and rear of the wave system. In the similar way, we have the results of the first order (e ):
94 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95

" #
f
2 Re @ ðg  fÞ 1 @3g Eqs. (72) and (73) indicate the evolution of liquid–air interface and
f ðg  f Þ 
u1 ðgÞ ¼ 2 De ðg  fÞ3 þ ðg  fÞ2 3
3 @t f @x flexible wall, respectively.
2 De
" #
f
f ðg  fÞ3  Re ðg  fÞ5 @ ðg  fÞ
þ 6 De ð66Þ Appendix B
2 @x
The left-hand side of Eq. (33) is firstly integrated from y ¼ f to
f @ 2 ðg  f Þ
3 Re 6
f @ ðg  fÞ  @ g
Re @f
 y ¼ g and evaluated by applying the continuity Eq. (32), Leibnitz
v 1 ðgÞ ¼ ð g  f Þ þ 13  18 ðg  fÞ5 rule, the kinematic conditions (38) at the liquid–air interface and
10 @x2 10 @x @x @x
  the no-slip condition (41) at the flexible wall. It gives
f @ 2 ðg  fÞ
þ
5 Re
ðg  fÞ4 þ Re f @ ðg  fÞ @ g  5 @f ðg  fÞ3 Z g
@u @u @u
 Z g
@u
Z g 2
@u
Z g
@ ðuv Þ

12 @t@x @t @x 3 @x f
Re þu þv f
dy ¼ Re dy þ dy þ dy
@t @x @y @t @x @y
  f f
 Z g
f

f

f @ ð g  fÞ @f 1 @ ð g  fÞ 2 @ g @ @g
þ 10 De   ðg  fÞ3 f
¼ Re udy  uðg; tÞ
@x @x 3 @x 5 @x @t f @t
   Z g 
@ @g
1 @4g 3 1 @ 3 g @f 1 @ g f
þ Re 2 2
u dy  u ðg; t Þ
 ð g  f Þ þ  ðg  fÞ2 @x f @x
f @x4
3 De f @x3 @x 2 @x
De f ðg; t Þv ðg; t Þ
þ Reu
f 2
f @ ðg  fÞ @f ðg  fÞ  10 De @ ðg  fÞ ðg  fÞ4
 Z g Z g 
þ 2 De f @
¼ Re udy þ
@
u2 dy
@t @x 3 @x2 @t f @x f
 
f @ 2 ðg  f Þ @ g @g
 De ðg  fÞ2 ð67Þ f
 uðg; tÞ Re  uðg; t Þ þ v ðg; t Þ
@t@x @t @x
 Z g Z g 
f @ @
@g @ ðg  fÞ ¼ Re udy þ u2 dy :
p1 ðfÞ ¼ 2 ðf  gÞ  4ðg  fÞ : ð68Þ @t f @x f
@x @x ð74Þ
Substituting Eqs. 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 into Eqs. (26) and (27), The two terms on the right-hand of Eq. (74) can be evaluated
we have easily by using the velocity profile in Eq. (43). Then, it becomes
@ ðg  fÞ @ ðg  fÞ Z g    2 
þ 2ðg  fÞ ðy  fÞ f
Re
@u
þu
@u
þv
@u f @q þ 6 @ q
dy ¼ Re : ð75Þ
@t @x @t @x @y @t 5 @x h
! f
f
5 Re @ 2 ðg  fÞ
f
þ e De ðg  fÞ  ðg  fÞ4 We now turn to the integration of the right-hand side of Eq. (33) by
12 @t@x applying the Eq. (34) and the pressure condition (39) at the liquid–
! air interface
10 f f
3 Re @ 2 ðg  fÞ
þe De ðg  fÞ4  ðg  fÞ6 Z g   
3 10 @x2 1 @p @ rxx @ ryx
 þ þ þ 2 dy
f f @x
Ca @x @y
1 @3g @ ðg  fÞ Z
þ ðg  fÞ2 1 @3g g
g
@ rxx
f
2 Ca @x 3 @x ¼ ðg  fÞ þ 2ðg  fÞ þ ryx þ dy: ð76Þ
! f @x3
Ca
f
f @x
f
5 Re @ ðg  fÞ @ ðg  fÞ
f ðg  fÞ 
þ e 2 De ðg  fÞ3 Substituting the velocity profile in Eq. (43) into the explicit expres-
3 @t @x
sion (36) and (37) for the stresses, we have
e @4g   2
ðg  fÞ3 3q f @ q  3 De
f q @f  18 De
f q @f :
þ
f @x4 ryx gf ¼  2
þ 3 De 2 3 @t 4
ð77Þ
3 Ca h @t h h h @x
! 2
40 f f
9 Re @ ðg  f Þ Z  2
þe De ðg  fÞ3  ðg  fÞ5 ¼ 0; ð69Þ g
@ rxx 2
3 5 @x f @ q þ 18 De
dy ¼ 6 De f q @f : ð78Þ
f @x @x h3 4
h @x
  Combining with Eqs. (75) and (76), the evolution equation of liquid
~ @f  v @2f 1 @2g @ ðg  fÞ @g
/ ~ ¼  e 4 ð g  fÞ  2 ð g  fÞ ; ð70Þ volumetric flow indicated by Eq. (45) can be obtained.
@t @x2 Caf @x2 @x @x
In order to show how nonlinearity affects the flow, the weakly non- Appendix C
linear limit is adopted by introducing the following forms
Substituting the normal modes defined in Eq. (54) into Eqs. (44),
~ f ¼ e~f;
g  f ¼ 1 þ eh; ð71Þ (45) and (50) and linearize for ðH; Z; Q Þ  1, yields

into Eqs. (69) and (70). Then, we have xH þ ikQ ¼ 0; ð79Þ

! ! h  i
~
@h  2 ~ f 2~ f 2~
x f  3 De
Re f Q þ 2 DeZ
f þ 4 DeH
f
þ 2 1 þ eh~ @ h þ e De f  5 Re @ h þ e 10 De
f  3 Re @ h
@t @x 12 @t@x 3 10 @x2 3
ik f ðQ  HÞ þ 6H  3Q  ik
  ¼ ðH þ Z Þ þ 6H þ 8ik De
3 @ 4 h~ þ ~f f
Ca
1   
þe g~  ~f þ O e2 ¼ 0; ð72Þ 8 f
f
3 Ca @x 4
 Re ð3Q  HÞ; ð80Þ
15
~ 2~   2~  
  2
~ @f  1 @ h  1 þ v
/ ~
@ f
þ O e2 ¼ 0; ð73Þ ~ ¼
x/Z
k
Hk
2 1
þv
~ Z: ð81Þ
f
@t Ca @x 2 f
Ca @x 2
f
Ca f
Ca
 J. Peng et al. / Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 210 (2014) 85–95 95

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