Wavy liquid film in the presence of co- or counter-current turbulent gas flow

The wavy downflow of a viscous liquid film in the presence of the turbulent gas flow was analyzed theoretically. Two-dimensional stationary running waves are calculated in a wide range of Reynolds numbers of liquid and gas. Hydrodynamics of liquid is calculated based on complete Navier-Stokes equations. The wave interface surface is considered as a small perturbation and equations in gas are linearized near the main turbulent flow. Different optimal downflow regimes are determined, and the main wave characteristics are compared in detail with and without the co- and counter-current gas flows. It is shown that at high velocities of the co-current gas flow, the calculated waves correspond to ripples observed in experiments.