Stability of a steady-state discontinuity of a fluid layer on the surface of an immiscible fluid

A new stable structure of the three-phase system formed by a gas, a horizontal liquid layer with a free upper surface and an underlying immiscible liquid substrate is investigated experimentally and theoretically. When the upper layer has a greater surface tension than the lower layer and its thickness is fairly small, a local deformation of its surface can lead to the development of a steady-state concentric discontinuity within whose limits the lower layer os in contact with the gas. The conditions of stability of such a phase system with a steady-state discontinuity are studied and the dependences of the discontinuity parameters on the vessel diameter, the upper layer thickness, and the liquid surface tensions are obtained for various pairs of liquids. The formulation of the analytic problem of the layer discontinuity is discussed. The experimental data are compared with the results of calculations carried out for a model of a discontinuity in an infinite layer.