Effect of imposed shear on the dynamics of a contaminated two-layer film flow down a slippery incline

TL;DR

This study investigates how external shear influences the stability of a contaminated two-layer falling film on a slippery incline, revealing that shear direction and magnitude can either destabilize or stabilize the flow.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of external shear effects on two-layer film instability, contrasting with single-layer behavior and highlighting control mechanisms.

Findings

Stronger external shear destabilizes interface mode.

Shear in the flow direction stabilizes the surface mode.

Shear mode dominates at high Reynolds numbers with low inclination.

Abstract

The linear instability of a surfactant-laden two-layer falling film over an inclined slippery wall is analyzed under an influence of external shear which is imposed on the top surface of the flow. The free surface of the flow as well as the interface among the fluids are contaminated by insoluble surfactants. Dynamics of both the layers are governed by the Navier--Stokes equations, and the surfactant transport equation regulates the motion of the insoluble surfactants at the interface and free surface. Instability mechanisms are compared by imposing the external shear along and opposite to the flow direction. A coupled Orr--Sommerfeld system of equations for the considered problem is derived using the perturbation technique and normal mode analysis. The eigenmodes corresponding to the Orr--Sommerfeld eigenvalue problem are obtained by employing the spectral collocation method. The numerical results imply that the stronger external shear destabilizes the interface mode instability. However, a stabilizing impact of the external shear on the surface mode is noticed if the shear is imposed in the flow direction, which is in contrast to the role of imposed external shear on the surface mode for a surfactant laden single layer falling film. Moreover, the impression of shear mode on the primary instability is analyzed in the high Reynolds number regime with sufficiently low inclination angle. Under such configuration, dominance of the shear mode over the surface mode is observed due to the weaker impact of the gravitation force on the surface instability. The shear mode can also be stabilized by applying the external shear in the counter direction of the streamwise flow. Conclusively, the extra imposed shear on the stratified two-layer falling film plays an active role to control the attitude of the instabilities.