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Viscous–gravity spreading of an oil slick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

J. Buckmaster
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering and Applied Science, Yale University

Abstract

A two-dimensional oil slick is examined as it spreads on water under the influence of gravitational and viscous forces. An exact analytical and numerical description of the flow is obtained in a certain rational asymptotic limit. The central result is an expression for the size of the slick as a function of time. This expression contains no free parameters to be empirically determined, and is in substantial agreement with experiment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1973 Cambridge University Press

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References

Brown, S. N. & Stewartson, K. 1965 J. Fluid Mech. 23, 673.
Buckmaster, J. D. 1971 Quart. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 24, 373.
Burggraf, O. R., Stewartson, K. & Belcher, R. 1971 Phys. Fluids, 14, 1821.
Fay, J. A. 1969 In Oil on the Sea (ed. D. P. Hoult), pp. 5363. Plenum.
Hoult, D. P. 1972 Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 4, 341.
Terrill, R. M. 1960 Phil. Trans. A, 253, 55.