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Surface tension is a fundamental property of fluids, occurring at the boundary between a liquid and a gas or between two immiscible liquids. This phenomenon arises from the cohesive forces between molecules at the fluid's surface, creating an effect similar to a stretched elastic membrane. Inside each fluid, molecules are equally attracted in all directions by neighboring molecules, but surface molecules experience a net inward force, resulting in surface tension.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Film Control to Study Contributions of Waves to Droplet Impact Dynamics on Thin Flowing Liquid Films

Film Control to Study Contributions of Waves to Droplet Impact Dynamics on Thin Flowing Liquid Films

Published on: August 18, 2018

Flower patterns in drop impact on thin liquid films.

Guillaume Lagubeau¹, Marco A Fontelos, Christophe Josserand

¹LAUM, UMR CNRS 6613, Avenue Olivier Messiaen, 72085 Le Mans Cedex 9, France.

Physical Review Letters

|January 15, 2011

Summary

Researchers experimentally observed drop impacts on thin liquid films, revealing pattern formation driven by linear instability. This finding predicts how the most unstable fold number scales with Weber number and film thickness.

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Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

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Area of Science:

Fluid Dynamics
Surface Science
Nonlinear Dynamics

Background:

Drop impacts on liquid films are ubiquitous phenomena.
Understanding pattern formation in these impacts is crucial for various applications.
Previous studies have explored some aspects, but a comprehensive theoretical explanation for pattern emergence across a wide parameter range was lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally investigate and theoretically explain the pattern formation during drop impacts on thin liquid films.
To identify the underlying physical mechanisms governing the observed patterns.
To develop a predictive model for pattern characteristics, specifically the most unstable fold number.

Main Methods:

Experimental drop impact studies were conducted across a broad range of impact parameters.
The shallow-water approximation was employed to model the fluid dynamics.
Linear instability analysis of the self-similar axisymmetric radial solution was performed.

Main Results:

A distinct pattern formation was experimentally observed for drop impacts on thin liquid films.
The shallow-water theory successfully explains the observed patterns as a result of linear instability.
The study predicts a specific scaling law for the most unstable fold number: (We/h∞)2/7.

Conclusions:

The linear instability of the self-similar radial solution is the primary mechanism for pattern formation.
The developed theoretical framework shows excellent agreement with experimental observations.
The predictive scaling law offers valuable insights into the quantitative behavior of drop impact patterns.