An Energy-Stable Parametric Finite Element Method for Simulating Solid-State Dewetting Problems in Three Dimensions

We propose an accurate and energy-stable parametric finite element method for solving the sharp-interface continuum model of solid-state dewetting in three-dimensional space. The model describes the motion of the film\slash vapor interface with contact line migration and is governed by the surface diffusion equation with proper boundary conditions at the contact line. We present a weak formulation for the problem, in which the contact angle condition is weakly enforced. By using piecewise linear elements in space and backward Euler method in time, we then discretize the formulation to obtain a parametric finite element approximation, where the interface and its contact line are evolved simultaneously. The resulting numerical method is shown to be well-posed and unconditionally energy-stable. Furthermore, the numerical method is generalized to the case of anisotropic surface energies in the Riemannian metric form. Numerical results are reported to show the convergence and efficiency of the proposed numerical method as well as the anisotropic effects on the morphological evolution of thin films in solid-state dewetting.     

Droplet spreading: Intermediate scaling law by PDE methods

We consider the spreading of a thin droplet of viscous liquid on a plane surface driven by capillarity. The standard lubrication approximation leads to an evolution equation for the film height h that is ill‐posed when the spreading is limited by the no‐slip boundary condition at the liquid‐solid interface due to a singularity at the moving contact line. The most common relaxation of the no‐slip boundary condition removes this singularity but introduces a new physical length scale: the slippage length b. It is believed that this microscopic‐length scale only enters logarithmically in the effective (that is, macroscopic) spreading behavior. In this paper, we rigorously show that the naively expected spreading rate is indeed only altered by a logarithmic term involving b. More precisely, we prove a scaling law for the diameter of the apparent (that is, macroscopic) support of the droplet in time. This is an intermediate scaling law: It takes an initial layer to “forget” the initial droplet shape, whereas after a long time, the droplet is so thin that its spreading is governed by the physics on the scale b. Our proof works by deriving suitable estimates for physically relevant integral quantities: the free energy, the length of the apparent support, and their respective rates of change. As opposed to matched asymptotic methods, this PDE approach closely mimics a simple heuristic argument based on the gradient flow structure. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Leveling a capillary ridge generated by substrate geometry

The formation of capillary ridges is typical of thin viscous films flowing over a topographical feature. This process is studied by using a two-dimensional model describing the slow motion of a thin viscous nonisothermal liquid film flowing over complex topography. The model is based on the Navier-Stokes equations in the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation. The density, surface tension, and viscosity of the liquid are linear functions of temperature. For a nonisothermal flow over a planar substrate with a local heater, the influence of the heater on the free surface is analyzed numerically depending on the buoyancy effect, Marangoni stresses, and variable viscosity. The analysis shows that the film can create its own ridges or valleys depending on the heater and the dominating liquid properties. It is shown that the capillary ridges generated by the substrate features can be optimally leveled by using various types of heaters consistent with the dominating liquid properties. Numerical results for model problems are presented.     

Thin-film flow over a nonlinear stretching sheet

A thin viscous liquid film flow is developed over a stretching sheet under different nonlinear stretching velocities. An evolution equation for the film thickness, is derived using long-wave approximation of thin liquid film and is solved numerically by using the Newton–Kantorovich method. A comparison is made with the analytic solution obtained in [B. S. Dandapat, A. Kitamura, B. Santra, “Transient film profile of thin liquid film flow on a stretching surface”, ZAMP, 57, 623-635 (2006)]. It is observed that all types of stretching produce film thinning but non-monotonic stretching produces faster thinning at small distance from the origin. The velocity u along the stretching direction strongly depends on the distance along the stretching direction and the Froude number.     

Singular limit of an energy minimizer arising from dewetting thin film model with van der Waal, born repulsion and surface tension forces

In this paper, we consider a singular elliptic equation modeling steady states of a dewetting thin film model with both van der Waals and Born repulsion force. We show that as the Born repulsion force tends to zero, the energy minimizers, passing to a subsequence if necessary, converge to a Dirac mass located on the boundary. We also identify the blow up profile of the energy minimizers.     

Thin-film flow over a nonlinear stretching sheet

A thin viscous liquid film flow is developed over a stretching sheet under different nonlinear stretching velocities. An evolution equation for the film thickness, is derived using long-wave approximation of thin liquid film and is solved numerically by using the Newton–Kantorovich method. A comparison is made with the analytic solution obtained in [B. S. Dandapat, A. Kitamura, B. Santra, “Transient film profile of thin liquid film flow on a stretching surface”, ZAMP, 57, 623-635 (2006)]. It is observed that all types of stretching produce film thinning but non-monotonic stretching produces faster thinning at small distance from the origin. The velocity u along the stretching direction strongly depends on the distance along the stretching direction and the Froude number.     

Modeling of van der Waals force with smoothed particle hydrodynamics: Application to the rupture of thin liquid films

The rupture of thin liquid films driven by the van der Waals force is of significance in many engineering processes, and most previous studies have relied on the lubrication approximation. In this paper, we develop a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) representation for the van der Waals force and simulate the rupture of thin liquid films without resort to lubrication theory. The van der Waals force in SPH is only imposed on one layer, i.e., the outermost layer of fluid particles, where a weighting function is deployed to evaluate the contributions of particles on or near the interface. However, to obtain an accurate hydrostatic pressure in reaction to the van der Waals force, a smaller smoothing length is used for the calculation of the weighting function than that used for SPH discretizations of the bulk fluid. The same surface particles are also used to model the surface tension. To deal with the rupture of a thin liquid film with a very small aspect ratio ε (ε = thickness/length), a coordinate transformation is introduced to shrink the length of the liquid film to achieve accurate numerical resolution with a manageable number of particles. As verifications of our physical model and numerical algorithm, we simulate the hydrostatic pressure in a stationary film and the relaxation of an initially square droplet and compare the SPH results with the analytical solutions. The method is then applied to simulate the rupture of thin liquid films with moderate and small aspect ratios (ε = 0.5 and 0.005). The convergence of the method is verified by refining particle spacing to four different levels. The effect of the capillary number on the rupture process is analyzed.     

Thin film limit and film rupture of the visco--capillary gravity--driven channel flow

Starting from an exact solution of a visco-capillary gravity--driven film flow of a Newtonian fluid in an inclined channel, we discuss the special case of thin films. The shape of the free surface, the velocity field and the flow rate are obtained from a pure analytical treatment. Making use of an adequate rescaling with a generalized capillary length we pay special attention to vanishingly thin films where capillary effects become dominant. Our investigations deliver a necessary condition for the flow rate in order to avoid a film rupture.     

Numerical methods for fourth order nonlinear degenerate diffusion problems

Numerical schemes are presented for a class of fourth order diffusion problems. These problems arise in lubrication theory for thin films of viscous fluids on surfaces. The equations being in general fourth order degenerate parabolic, additional singular terms of second order may occur to model effects of gravity, molecular interactions or thermocapillarity. Furthermore, we incorporate nonlinear surface tension terms. Finally, in the case of a thin film flow driven by a surface active agent (surfactant), the coupling of the thin film equation with an evolution equation for the surfactant density has to be considered. Discretizing the arising nonlinearities in a subtle way enables us to establish discrete counterparts of the essential integral estimates found in the continuous setting. As a consequence, the resulting algorithms are efficient, and results on convergence and nonnegativity or even strict positivity of discrete solutions follow in a natural way. The paper presents a finite element and a finite volume scheme and compares both approaches. Furthermore, an overview over qualitative properties of solutions is given, and various applications show the potential of the proposed approach.     

Attractors and Approximate Inertial Manifolds for the Generalized Benjamin–Bona–Mahony Equation

In the present paper, we deal with the long time behaviour of solutions for the generalized Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation. By a priori estimates methods, we show this equation possesses a global attractor in H^k for every integer k⩾2, which has finite Hausdorff and fractal dimensions. We also construct approximate inertial manifolds such that every solution enters their thin neighbourhood in a finite time. © 1997 by B.G. Teubner Stuttgart-John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coarsening dynamics of polymer droplets for a lubrication model with large slippage

We analyze the final stages of the dewetting process of nanoscopic thin polymer films on hydrophobized substrates using a lubrication model that captures the large slippage at the liquid-substrate interface. The final stages of this process are characterized by the slow-time coarsening dynamics of the remaining droplets. For this situation we derive a reduced system of equations from the lubrication model, using singular perturbation analysis. Such reduced models allow for an efficient numerical simulation of the coarsening process. The reduced model extends results of [2] for no-slip lubrication model. Apart from collapse and collision, we identify here some new coarsening dynamics. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Viscosity Solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi Equation Arising from a Thin Film Blistering Model

The paper deals with a dynamical nonlinear model describing the self-driven delamination of compressed thin films. Some assumptions on the buckled shape allow us to describe the moving boundary of the film by a single Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We prove the existence and uniqueness of a viscosity solution to the associated evolution problem.     

A $\theta$-$L$ Approach for Solving Solid-State Dewetting Problems

We propose a $\theta$-$L$ approach for solving a sharp-interface model about simulating solid-state dewetting of thin films with isotropic/weakly anisotropic surface energies. The sharp-interface model is governed by surface diffusion and contact line migration. For solving the model, traditional numerical methods usually suffer from the severe stability constraint and/or the mesh distribution trouble. In the $\theta$-$L$ approach, we introduce a useful tangential velocity along the evolving interface and utilize a new set of variables (i.e., the tangential angle $\theta$ and the total length $L$ of the interface curve), so that it not only could reduce the stiffness resulted from the surface tension, but also could ensure the mesh equidistribution property during the evolution. Furthermore, it can achieve second-order accuracy when implemented by a semi-implicit linear finite element method. Numerical results are reported to demonstrate that the proposed $\theta$-$L$ approach is efficient and accurate.     

On the Nature of Ill-Posedness of the Forward-Backward Heat Equation

We study the Cauchy problem with periodic initial data for the forward-backward heat equation defined by a J-self-adjoint linear operator L depending on a small parameter. The problem originates from the lubrication approximation of a viscous fluid film on the inner surface of a rotating cylinder. For a certain range of the parameter we rigorously prove the conjecture, based on numerical evidence, that the complete set of eigenvectors of the operator L does not form a Riesz basis in L²(-p, p)\mathcal{L}^2(-\pi, \pi). Our method can be applied to a wide range of evolution problems given by PT-symmetric operators.     

An investigation on the influence of slot injection/suction on the spreading of a thin film under gravity on a rotating disk

We investigate the influence of slot injection/suction on the axisymmetric spreading of a thin film under the influence of gravity and rotation. The effects of surface tension are ignored. We allow a very thin film to precede the bulk of the fluid to overcome the singularity which arises as a consequence of applying the no-slip boundary condition. We show how the width of the slot and magnitude of the injection/suction influences the height of ridges and depth of cavities on the profile of the free surface of the thin film. Rotation increases the depth of the cavities and the height of the ridges as compared to the effects of gravity alone. The presence of rotation also results in the formation of a breaking wave.     

High temperature superconducting thin films for microwave filters

YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ and Tl₂Ba₂CaCu₂O₈ thin films for microwave filters were synthesized by pulsed laser deposition and the two-step thalliation process. Substrate quality requirements and the relation of thin film morphology, microstructure with microwave surface resistance were discussed.     

Asymptotics of solutions to the spectral elasticity problem for a spatial body with a thin coupler

We construct asymptotics for the eigenvalues and vector eigenfunctions of the elasticity problem for an anisotropic body with a thin coupler (of diameter h) attached to its surface. In the spectrum we select two series of eigenvalues with stable asymptotics. The first series is formed by eigenvalues O(h ²) corresponding to the transverse oscillations of the rod with rigidly fixed ends, while the second is generated by the longitudinal oscillations and twisting of the rod, as well as eigenoscillations of the body without the coupler. We check the convergence theorem for the first series and derive the error estimates for both series.     

Explosion en temps fini de la solution d'un problème d'évolution de surface de film mince

In this Note, we are interested in the evolution of a surface of a crystal structure, constituted by an elastic substrate and a thin film. If the crystal is constrained, some morphological instabilities may appear. To study these instabilities, we made use of the model developped in Phys. Rev. B 47 (1993) 9760–9777. There, the map f of the free surface of the film satisfies a parabolic partial differential equation, depending on the elastic displacement of the substrate. For simplicity, the substrate is assumed to be linearly elastic and the structure to be infinite in one direction. Then, under some formal asymptotic assumptions, a formal expansion of the displacement can be determined after some appropriate scalings, allowing to derive a simplified parabolic nonlinear equation as in Lods et al. (Asymptotic Anal. 33 (2003) 67–91). We give here some results about the finite-time blow-up and the existence and uniqueness of the solution in an appropriate space. To validate the theoretical results, we also performed some numerical simulations using a pseudo-spectral method and also compute the initial-profile dependent critical value of the parameter θ involved in the nonlinear equation. To cite this article: M. Boutat et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 337 (2003).     

Soap films spanning rectangular prisms

In this paper, we consider soap films spanning rectangular prisms with regular n-gon bases. As the number of edges n varies, we show that there are significant changes in the qualitative properties of the spanning soap films as well as a change in the number of spanning soap films whose existence we can prove: We can find two nontrivial soap films for n = 3, 4, 5 but only one for n ≥ 6. We also prove some results concerning the interval of aspect ratios through which the soap films exist: The interval is finite if n = 3, 4, 5 and infinite if n ≥ 6. Furthermore, for n > 6, we have that the spanning soap film converges to a soap film spanning the vertical lines through the vertices of a regular n-gon as the aspect ratio goes to infinity. We can also make sense of the case n = ∞. Here, we discover some interesting singly and triply periodic soap films spanning singly and doubly periodic sets of vertical lines or spanning singly periodic sets of vertical line segments connected by pairs of parallel, horizontal lines. Finally, for n = 3, 4, 5, 6, we can derive parameterizations for the spanning soap films, and these parameterizations are explicit up to knowing the aspect ratio.