Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Knuepfer, Hans, Velazquez, Juan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17463
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909970880004096
author Knuepfer, Hans
Velazquez, Juan
author_facet Knuepfer, Hans
Velazquez, Juan
contents We analyze the evolution of thin liquid droplets in the lubrication approximation with different slip conditions at the liquid-solid interface. Motivated by the classical no-slip paradox which states that the Navier-Stokes equations with a no-slip boundary condition require unphysical infinite dissipation during droplet spreading, we focus on the limit of vanishing slip. We show that in the no-slip limit three fundamentally different classes of limiting solutions are approached, each of them corresponding to a different scaling of the microscopic contact angle as the regularization parameter vanishes. These findings suggest that the thin-film equation with no slip supports a rich family of physically admissible solutions, provided one interprets the no-slip thin film equation as the asymptotic limit of models which regularized slip conditions. Even though the large apparent contact angles in some of these solutions seem incompatible with the lubrication approximation, a refined analysis shows that the underlying physical variables remain consistent with the assumptions for the lubrication approximation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_17463
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Solutions of the thin film equation obtained in the limit of vanishing slip
Knuepfer, Hans
Velazquez, Juan
Analysis of PDEs
We analyze the evolution of thin liquid droplets in the lubrication approximation with different slip conditions at the liquid-solid interface. Motivated by the classical no-slip paradox which states that the Navier-Stokes equations with a no-slip boundary condition require unphysical infinite dissipation during droplet spreading, we focus on the limit of vanishing slip. We show that in the no-slip limit three fundamentally different classes of limiting solutions are approached, each of them corresponding to a different scaling of the microscopic contact angle as the regularization parameter vanishes. These findings suggest that the thin-film equation with no slip supports a rich family of physically admissible solutions, provided one interprets the no-slip thin film equation as the asymptotic limit of models which regularized slip conditions. Even though the large apparent contact angles in some of these solutions seem incompatible with the lubrication approximation, a refined analysis shows that the underlying physical variables remain consistent with the assumptions for the lubrication approximation.
title Solutions of the thin film equation obtained in the limit of vanishing slip
topic Analysis of PDEs
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17463