Levich Institute Seminar Announcement, 04/01/2008

Tuesday, 04/01/2008
2:00 PM
Steinman Hall, Room #312
(Chemical Engineering Conference Room)

Professor Lou Kondic
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Department of Mathematical Sciences

"Breakup of Films and Rivulets "

ABSTRACT

In the first part of the talk I will give an overview of various thin liquid film problems involving instabilities, such as flow down an incline, flows on inhomogeneous surfaces, coalescence of drops, and evaporation-induced instabilities. While the emphasis will be on computations and theory, some experimental results will be presented as well.

The second part of the talk will concentrate on the recent research of the mechanism of the breakup process involving finite-size films and rivulets. We will see that the breakup process due to finite size effects can be related to a particular mode of instability of infinite films, so called nucleation type of instability. I will also discuss coupling of various types of instabilities, and the competition between them. This competition may be relevant to problems on micro-and nano-scale fluidics relevant to printing applications. Finally, I will revisit the classical problem of rivulet instability and discuss whether finite size effects may be important in determining the relevant instability mechanism. The presentation will include discussion of various computational and asymptotic methods relevant to thin film flows.

BRIEF ACADEMIC/EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND:


CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Thin films, granular materials, pattern formation in Hele-Shaw cells, sonoluminescence: from sound to light

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