Abstract

The theory describing the nonlinear stationary waves of finite amplitude and long wavelength on a thin viscous Newtonian film at high Reynolds numbers and moderate Weber numbers has been developed using the energy integral method (EIM). The linear instability of the uniform flow by EIM has been analyzed and the linear instability threshold has been obtained as cot θ/Re=6/5, which agrees with the classical results of the Orr–Sommerfeld analysis by Benjamin [J. Fluid Mech. 2, 554 (1957)] and Yih [Phys. Fluids 6, 321 (1963)] and verified experimentally by Liu and Gollub [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2289 (1993)]. Further, in the frame of reference moving with the steady wave speed, the second order approximate equations reduce to a third order dynamical system. While wave transitions in real life involve complex spatio-temporal dynamics and many of these transitions lead to chaotic waves that are not stationary traveling waves, bifurcation of stationary traveling waves has been examined as a preliminary study of the more complex transitions. Stability of the fixed points of the dynamical system, parametric regimes of heteroclinic orbits and Hopf bifurcations are delineated. Numerical integration has been carried out in order to study the different bifurcation scenarios as the phase speed deviates from the Hopf-bifurcation thresholds. Four different bifurcation scenarios have been observed and the dependence of bifurcation scenarios on the inclination angle, Reynolds numbers and Weber numbers have been discussed. Although the results obtained by the momentum integral method and EIM exhibit similar bifurcation scenarios, there are quantitative differences which shows that the modeling differences exist in the literature.

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