Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 March 2006
Craik (1968) has previously examined the stability of horizontal liquid films when an air stream flows over the liquid surface and when the surface is contaminated by an insoluble surface-active agent. The present theoretical work extends this investigation to examine the role of soluble surface-active agents for cases where the liquid Reynolds number is small. This role is found to be a rather complex one which, under suitable conditions, may be either stabilizing or destabilizing.
Related experimental work is described which yields results in qualitative agreement with the theoretical analysis.