Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
The flow of a thin film of a viscous fluid down an inclined plane is unstable, with fingers developing at the moving contact line (think of a layer of paint dripping down a wall). This project involves studying this process by first deriving the governing equation, which is a time dependent fourth-order nonlinear partial differential equation, and then considering the reduced one-dimensional model. This simplified version can be solved numerically using finite-differences in space to reduce the problem to a system of ODEs, which themselves can be integrated using an appropriate implicit scheme. Finally, the nature of the fingering instabilities will then be analysed using traditional stability analysis, with a number of extensions possible. This project would involve mathematical modelling, advanced analytical techniques, and the numerical study of higher order PDEs. The supervisors would be Dr Scott McCue and Dr Tim Moroney, with further collaboration with PhD student Bennett Gardiner.
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
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Please contact the supervisor.
Associate Professor Scott McCue
