Rupture of thin liquid films: generalization of weakly nonlinear theory

In this paper, we investigate the rupture dynamics of thin liquid films driven by intermolecular forces via weakly nonlinear bifurcation analysis. The dynamic equations governing slow dynamics of the perturbation amplitude of the near-critical mode corresponding to several models describing the evolution of thin liquid films in different physical situations appear to have the same structure. When antagonistic (attractive and repulsive) molecular forces are considered, nonlinear saturation of the instability becomes possible, while the boundary of this supercritical bifurcation is determined solely by the form of the intermolecular potential. The rupture time estimate obtained in closed form shows an excellent agreement with the results of the previously reported numerical simulations of the strongly nonlinear coupled evolution equations upon fitting the amplitude of the small initial perturbation. We further extend the weakly nonlinear analysis of the film dynamics and apply the Galerkin approximation to derive the amplitude equation(s) governing the dynamics of the fastest growing linear mode far from the instability threshold. The comparison of the rupture time derived from this theory with the results of numerical simulations of the original nonlinear evolution equations shows a very good agreement without any adjustable parameters.