Thermocapillary thin-film equation ($h_t+{\partial }_x(a_c{h}^3{h}_{xxx}+a_m{h}^2{h}_x)=0$)

For a liquid film heated below and cooled above, the quasistatic temperature of a conductively cooled film makes a thicker region colder at the surface. If surface tension decreases with temperature, Marangoni stress draws fluid towards thicker regions, competing with smoothing by capillary pressure. Writing ${\gamma }_s={\gamma }_0+bh$ gives $a_c={\gamma }_0/(3\mu )$, $a_m=b/(2\mu )$. A balanced long-wave scaling gives $H_{\tau }+(H^2{H}_X{)}_X+(H^3{H}_{XXX}{)}_X=0$. The dispersion relation $s=k^2-k^4$ has unstable band $0<|k|<1$ and fastest normal mode at $|k|=1/\sqrt{2}$. This thermal mechanism does not require surfactant.

Positive steady solutions of the balanced thermocapillary thin-film equation with zero volume flux satisfy $H_{XX}+\ln H=0$ after choosing the thickness scale. Their first integral has potential $V(H)=H(\ln H-1)$, with minimum $V(1)=-1$ and limiting value $V(0^{+})=0$. At $E=-1$ the film is uniform; for $-1<E<0$ it is positive and periodic. At $E=0$ a limiting drop has peak $e$, half-width $\sqrt{\pi e}$, zero limiting contact angle and divergent curvature at zero thickness. Small periodic profiles have period $2\pi$ and approach the neutral, rather than fastest-growing, normal mode of the thermocapillary film instability.

For a film with fixed lower temperature $T_0$ and upper condition $-\kappa T_z=\alpha (T_s-T_0+\Delta T)$, negligible horizontal thermal diffusion and thermal advection reduce the heat equation to $T_{zz}=0$. Thus $T=T_0-\alpha \Delta Tz/(\kappa +\alpha h)$. The local approximation requires $(h/L{)}^2\ll 1$ and $U{h}^2/(\kappa L)\ll 1$, together with slow time variation relative to $h^2/\kappa$. For $\alpha h/\kappa \ll 1$, $T_s\simeq T_0-\Delta T\alpha h/\kappa$. The coefficient $\kappa$ is thermal diffusivity, and the boundary coefficient $\alpha$ is normalized accordingly.