Dynamics and stability of a thin liquid film on a heated rotating disk film with variable viscosity

A theoretical analysis of the thermal effects on the dynamics of a thin nonuniform film of a nonvolatile incompressible viscous fluid on a heated rotating disk has been considered and the effects of temperature-dependent viscosity and surface tension have been analyzed. A nonlinear evolution equation describing the shape of the film interface has been derived as a function of space and time and its stability characteristics have been examined using linear theory. It has been observed that the infinitesimal disturbances decay for small wave numbers and are transiently stable for large wave numbers, for both zero and nonzero values of Biot number. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.