Thin Film Equations with Soluble Surfactant and Gravity: Modeling and Stability of Steady States

Abstract: A thin film on a horizontal solid substrate and coated with a soluble surfactant is considered. The governing degenerate parabolic equations for the film height and the surfactant concentrations on the surface and in the bulk are derived using a lubrication approximation when gravity is taken into account. It is shown that the steady states are asymptotically stable.