Asymptotic behavior of regularized shock solutions in coating flows

Abstract

We consider a model for thin liquid films in a rotating cylinder in the small surface tension limit. Using dynamical system methods, we show that the continuum of increasing shock solutions persists in the small surface tension limit, whereas the continuum of decreasing shock solutions terminates at the limit. Using delicate numerical computations, we show that the existence curves of regularized shock solutions on the mass-flux diagram exhibit loops. The number of loops increases and their locations move to infinity as the surface tension parameter decreases to zero. If $n$ is the number of loops in the mass-flux diagram with $2n+1$ solution branches, we show that $n+1$ solution branches are stable with respect to small perturbations.