On the spreading radius of surface tension driven oil on deep water

The spread of a thin oil film by surface tension gradients from an oil source of unlimited mass on deep water is considered. A similarity solution for the velocity fields of the oil and water, the oil thickness and the rate at which each grow is obtained both for axisymmetric and the previously explored planar spreading. The dimensionless size of the spread, which is oil type independent, is shown to be 1.0754 and 1.4150 for axisymmetric and planar spreading respectively. It is further shown that the oil film equation of state, which relates surface tension to oil thickness, is unique to each oil or oil-surfactant mixture.