Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 47 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The material derivative follows surfactant carried by the moving interface. Tangential surface divergence changes the local surface area and hence dilutes or concentrates insoluble material. Normal motion changes area through the curvature: an expanding sphere has positive and its concentration decreases. The last term is surface diffusion, which smooths concentration gradients. There is no exchange with the bulk; this is conservation of insoluble surfactant on a moving interface.
The interfacial speed is of order . Diffusion dominates redistribution when the surface Péclet number satisfiesThen , and advection of is a second-order effect. Write . Since , the projected divergence of the first term is , whereas the second has divergence ; its gradient contracted with is zero. Hence .
The leading steady transport equation is . Trace-freeness and the supplied surface Laplacian identity give . Fixing the conserved total surfactant removes the uniform null mode and yieldsThis is quadrupolar surfactant distribution on a spherical interface; its spherical mean is zero because .
With outside, inside, and the normal directed out of the bubble, the interfacial stress balance with variable surface tension isNow , so . Multiplying the curvature by the tension and retaining linear terms givesThe undeformed isotropic pressure jump is kept with its normal; the perturbation terms are evaluated on the reference sphere. Products of deformation and concentration perturbations are beyond the approximation.
The imposed tensor is symmetric and traceless, so is a harmonic scalar of degree two. Its decaying partner is ; the corresponding harmonic vector uses . Linearity and rotational symmetry give precisely these tensorial modes, with the growing scalar chosen to reproduce the imposed strain. Thus in the unscaled convention one can takeThe coefficients multiply distinct decaying modes. No other angular harmonic is forced at this order.
No penetration in the steady state gives . The given tangential surface velocity implies . The tangential stress balance, with , gives , or . ThereforeThe nonuniform normal stress is unaffected by the uniform inviscid interior pressure. Its balance isSubstitution and rearrangement giveAs , : the concentration-induced Marangoni stress suppresses tangential surface motion, making the exterior boundary behave like an immobile surface despite the inviscid interior. The deformation coefficient tends to ; the clean limit is . Both small surface Péclet number and small deformation, of order , are required. This is Marangoni immobilization of a bubble in straining flow.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 78 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The material derivative follows surfactant carried by the moving interface. The term is dilution or concentration by tangential area expansion or contraction. The term is the additional area change produced by normal motion of a curved interface. The term represents surface diffusion, while relaxes the concentration towards a reservoir value through exchange. All these terms refer to concentration per surface area, as in surfactant transport with exchange relaxation.
In the steady bubble frame, the spherical interface has . Write with uniform and regard both and as first order in the rising speed. Advection of and its product with surface dilation are second order. Hence the linear steady equation isSpherical symmetry and linearity leave only the tangential projection of the imposed translation vector: . An azimuthal term would change sign under reflection and is excluded for this non-chiral rising bubble. The degree-one forcing does not excite other spherical-harmonic degrees in the linear problem.
On , differentiating givesEach component of is a degree-one spherical harmonic, soOne may also obtain the coefficient from : its surface Laplacian gives , while rotational symmetry makes the vector Laplacian parallel to . Expanding then yieldsThe candidate therefore solves the linear transport equation ifIts spherical mean is zero. This is the dipolar surfactant distribution. Assuming , its consistency condition isDiffusion or exchange must restore uniform concentration faster than the interfacial flow redistributes it: this holds with a small surface Péclet number, fast exchange, or sufficiently immobilized surface velocity. These same conditions justify neglecting the perturbation's advection. Small capillary number and sufficiently small buoyancy-induced shape distortion are separate requirements for a spherical interface.
Take to mean the outer liquid, the bubble interior and outward from the bubble. The general interfacial stress balance with variable surface tension isFor , its tangential part is . Thus the requested form isThis positive parameter measures the strength of the restoring Marangoni stress relative to viscous stress, including the relaxation of concentration by diffusion and exchange.
The far velocity is produced by the constant harmonic vector potential . The two independent decaying degree-one modes are the force-carrying vector potential and the scalar dipole . They are harmonic outside the bubble and have precisely the symmetry of uniform translation. The Unscaled Papkovich–Neuber representation gives, at arbitrary radius,The velocity at agrees with the printed expression. However, the original PDF's traction formula has a factor-of-two error. Direct differentiation with givesnot the printed prefactor . This is traction of translating-sphere Papkovich–Neuber potentials. The term follows immediately from the Stokeslet stress, and the scalar-potential part gives ; neither contribution contains the extra factor two.
With this consistent traction, no penetration requires , tangential velocity requires , and tangential stress balance requires . Solving,For comparison, taking the printed literally would instead giveThose solve the supplied algebraic pair but not the Newtonian stress calculated from the supplied potentials. The factor-six result is the physically consistent translating surfactant-coated bubble solution.
As , and : the clean bubble has a mobile interface and zero tangential traction. As , , and : the interface becomes immobilized and the exterior flow approaches that past a no-slip rigid sphere. The limiting tangential traction is , a useful check on the correct normalization.
The normal dynamic traction isapart from an arbitrary constant pressure. In the normal stress balance on a translating bubble, its degree-one part is balanced by the buoyant hydrostatic pressure difference and by the variation of normal capillary stress. A uniform internal gas pressure balances the constant Laplace-pressure term but cannot by itself balance this angular variation. If is upwards and is liquid minus bubble mass density, the degree-one balance can be writtenIt fixes , tending to the clean-bubble and rigid-sphere rise speeds. A degree-one radial displacement translates a sphere rather than changing its curvature, so a supposed dipolar shape distortion cannot replace this force balance.
For radius and tangential velocity with symmetric traceless , the surface divergence is . At small surface Péclet number , neglecting advection of the concentration perturbation givesThe result follows because this quadratic is a degree-two spherical harmonic with surface Laplacian times itself and zero spherical mean.
Surface diffusion 2026-10-05
Surface diffusion transports particles along an interface down a concentration gradient. On an isotropic smooth interface with constant diffusivity , its flux is and its concentration source is , using the surface gradient and surface Laplacian.