Mathematics

In this talk I will discuss a variational approach to the free boundary problem of fluid motion over a planar solid or over soft liquid substrates in the framework of thin-film type models. The particular focus of my talk will be the treatment of contact line motion. As a particular example I will consider dewetting flows, where uniform layers of a fluid retract from the underlying substrate due to a driving surface energy. For these examples qualitative and quantitative comparisons with experiments will be presented.