A detailed overview and comprehensive analysis of the main theoretical and experimental advances on free surface thin film and jet flows of soft matter is given. At the theoretical front the book outlines the basic equations and boundary conditions and the derivation of low-dimensional models for the evolution of the free surface. Such models include long-wave expansions and equations of the boundary layer type and are analyzed via linear stability analysis, weakly nonlinear theories and strongly nonlinear analysis including construction of stationary periodic and solitary wave and similarity solutions. At the experimental front a variety of very recent experimental developments is outlined and the link between theory and experiments is illustrated. Such experiments include spreading drops and bubbles, imbibitions, singularity formation at interfaces and experimental characterization of thin films using atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and contact angle measurements and analysis of patterns using Minkowski functionals.

Autorentext
Kalliadasis, S., Imperial College London, UK; Thiele, U., Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany

Inhalt
Structure Formation in Thin Liquid Films: Interface Forces Unleashed.- Structure Formation in Thin Liquid Films.- Singularities and Similarities.- Three-Phase Capillarity.- Falling Films Under Complicated Conditions.- Miscible Fingering in Electrokinetic Flow: Symmetries and Zero Modes.