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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Rayleigh and depinning instabilities of forced liquid ridges on heterogeneous substrates
Philippe Beltrame1, Edgar Knobloch, Peter Hänggi
1UMR EmmaH 1114, Département de Physique, Université d'Avignon, F-84000 Avignon, France. philippe.beltrame@univ-avignon.fr
Abstract:
Depinning of two-dimensional liquid ridges and three-dimensional drops on an inclined substrate is studied within the lubrication approximation. The structures are pinned to wetting heterogeneities arising from variations of the strength of the short-range contribution to the disjoining pressure. The case of a periodic array of hydrophobic stripes transverse to the slope is studied in detail using a combination of direct numerical simulation and branch-following techniques. Under appropriate conditions the ridges may either depin and slide downslope as the slope is increased, or first break up into drops via a transverse instability, prior to depinning. The different transition scenarios are examined together with the stability properties of the different possible states of the system.
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