We study the influence of a low-frequency harmonic vibration on the formation of the two-dimensional rolling solitary waves in vertically co-flowing two-layer liquid films. The system consists of two adjacent layers of immiscible fluids with the first layer being sandwiched between a vertical solid plate and the second fluid layer. The solid plate oscillates harmonically in the horizontal direction inducing Faraday waves at the liquid–liquid and liquid–air interfaces. We use a reduced hydrodynamic model derived from the Navier–Stokes equations in the long-wave approximation. Linear stability of the base flow in a flat two-layer film is determined semi-analytically using Floquet theory. We consider sub-millimetre-thick films and focus on the competition between the long-wavelength gravity-driven and finite wavelength Faraday instabilities. In the linear regime, the range of unstable wave vectors associated with the gravity-driven instability broadens at low and shrinks at high vibration frequencies. In nonlinear regimes, we find multiple metastable states characterized by solitary-like travelling waves and short pulsating waves. In particular, we find the range of the vibration parameters at which the system is multistable. In this regime, depending on the initial conditions, the long-time dynamics is dominated either by the fully developed solitary-like waves or by the shorter pulsating Faraday waves.

In this work, formal asymptotic solutions of a problem for linear water waves in a bounded basin are constructed. The solutions have the form of asymptotic quasimodes and are used for the description of standing water waves localised near the shoreline. Such short-wavelength quasimodes exist only for a discrete set of frequencies, which are determined by means of a quantisation-type condition. Some numerical results are also addressed.

We investigate the Faraday instabilities of a three-layer fluid system in a cylindrical container containing low-viscosity liquid metal, sodium hydroxide solution and air by establishing the Mathieu equations with considering the viscous model derived by Labrador et al. (J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., vol. 2090, 2021, 012088). The Floquet analysis, asymptotic analysis, direct numerical simulation and experimental method are adopted in the present study. We obtain the dispersion relations and critical oscillation amplitudes of zigzag and varicose modes from the analysis of the Mathieu equations, which agree well with the experimental result. Furthermore, considering the coupling strength of two interfaces, besides zigzag and varicose modes, we find a beating instability mode that contains two primary frequencies, with its average frequency equalling half of the external excitation frequency in the strongly coupled system. In the weakly coupled system, the $A$-interface instability, $B$-interface instability and $A$&$B$-interface instability are defined. Finally, we obtain a critical wavenumber $k_c$ that can determine the transition from zigzag or varicose modes to the corresponding $A$-interface or $B$-interface instability.

We study a thin, laterally confined heated liquid layer subjected to mechanical parametric forcing without gravity. In the absence of parametric forcing, the liquid layer exhibits the Marangoni instability, provided the temperature difference across the layer exceeds a threshold. This threshold varies with the perturbation wavenumber, according to a curve with two minima, which correspond to long- and short-wave instability modes. The most unstable mode depends on the lateral confinement of the liquid layer. In wide containers, the long-wave mode is typically observed, and this can lead to the formation of dry spots. We focus on this mode, as the short-wave mode is found to be unaffected by parametric forcing. We use linear stability analysis and nonlinear computations based on a reduced-order model to investigate how parametric forcing can prevent the formation of dry spots. At low forcing frequencies, the liquid film can be rendered linearly stable within a finite range of forcing amplitudes, which decreases with increasing frequency and ultimately disappears at a cutoff frequency. Outside this range, the flow becomes unstable to either the Marangoni instability (for small amplitudes) or the Faraday instability (for large amplitudes). At high frequencies, beyond the cutoff frequency, linear stabilization through parametric forcing is not possible. However, a nonlinear saturation mechanism, occurring at forcing amplitudes below the Faraday instability threshold, can greatly reduce the film surface deformation and therefore prevent dry spots. Although dry spots can also be avoided at larger forcing amplitudes, this comes at the expense of generating large-amplitude Faraday waves.

Existing theoretical analyses of Faraday waves in Hele-Shaw cells rely on the Darcy approximation and assume a parabolic flow profile in the narrow direction. However, Darcy's model is known to be inaccurate when convective or unsteady inertial effects are important. In this work, we propose a gap-averaged Floquet theory accounting for inertial effects induced by the unsteady terms in the Navier–Stokes equations, a scenario that corresponds to a pulsatile flow where the fluid motion reduces to a two-dimensional oscillating Poiseuille flow, similarly to the Womersley flow in arteries. When gap-averaging the linearised Navier–Stokes equation, this results in a modified damping coefficient, which is a function of the ratio between the Stokes boundary layer thickness and the cell's gap, and whose complex value depends on the frequency of the wave response specific to each unstable parametric region. We first revisit the standard case of horizontally infinite rectangular Hele-Shaw cells by also accounting for a dynamic contact angle model. A comparison with existing experiments shows the predictive improvement brought by the present theory and points out how the standard gap-averaged model often underestimates the Faraday threshold. The analysis is then extended to the less conventional case of thin annuli. A series of dedicated experiments for this configuration highlights how Darcy's thin-gap approximation overlooks a frequency detuning that is essential to correctly predict the locations of the Faraday tongues in the frequency–amplitude parameter plane. These findings are well rationalised and captured by the present model.

This paper investigates the steady-state pattern evolution of symmetric Faraday waves excited in a brimful cylindrical container when driving parameters much exceed critical thresholds. In such liquid systems, parametric surface responses are typically considered as the resonant superposition of unstable standing waves. A modified free-surface synthetic Schlieren method is employed to obtain full three-dimensional spatial reconstructions of instantaneous surface patterns. Multi-azimuth structures and localized travelling waves during the small-elevation phases of the oscillation cycle give rise to modal decomposition in the form of $\nu$-basis modes. Two-step surface-fitting results provide insight into the spatiotemporal characteristics of dominant wave components and corresponding harmonics in the experimental observations. Arithmetic combination of modal indices and uniform frequency distributions reveal the nonlinear mechanisms behind pattern formation and the primary pathways of energy transfer. Taking the hypothetical surface manifestation of multiple azimuths as the modal solutions, a linear stability analysis of the inviscid system is utilised to calculate fundamental resonance tongues (FRTs) with non-overlapping bottoms, which correspond to subharmonic or harmonic $\nu$-basis modes induced by surface instability at the air–liquid interface. Close relationships between experimental observations and corresponding FRTs provide qualitative verification of dominant modes identified using surface-fitting results. This supports the validity and rationality of the applied $\nu$-basis modes.

We report the results of a theoretical investigation of the stability of a hydrodynamic analogue of Landau levels, specifically circular orbits arising when a millimetric droplet self-propels along the surface of a vibrating, rotating liquid bath. Our study elucidates the form of the stability diagram characterising the critical memory at which circular orbits destabilise, and the form of instability. Particular attention is given to rationalising observations reported in prior experimental works, including the prevalence of resonant wobbling instabilities, in which the instability frequency is approximately twice the orbital frequency. We also explore the physical mechanism responsible for the onset of instability. Specifically, we compare the efficacy of different heuristic arguments proposed in prior studies, including propositions that the most unstable orbits arise when their radii correspond to the zeros of Bessel functions or when their associated wave intensity is extremised. We establish a new relation between orbital stability and the mean wave field, which supersedes existing heuristic arguments and suggests a rationale for the alternate wobbling and monotonic instabilities arising at onset as the orbital radius is increased progressively.

In labscale Faraday experiments, meniscus waves respond harmonically to small-amplitude forcing without threshold, hence potentially cloaking the instability onset of parametric waves. Their suppression can be achieved by imposing a contact line pinned at the container brim with static contact angle $\theta _s=90^{\circ }$ (brimful condition). However, tunable meniscus waves are desired in some applications as those of liquid-based biosensors, where they can be controlled adjusting the shape of the static meniscus by slightly underfilling/overfilling the vessel ($\theta _s\ne 90^{\circ }$) while keeping the contact line fixed at the brim. Here, we refer to this wetting condition as nearly brimful. Although classic inviscid theories based on Floquet analysis have been reformulated for the case of a pinned contact line (Kidambi, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 724, 2013, pp. 671–694), accounting for (i) viscous dissipation and (ii) static contact angle effects, including meniscus waves, makes such analyses practically intractable and a comprehensive theoretical framework is still lacking. Aiming at filling this gap, in this work we formalize a weakly nonlinear analysis via multiple time scale method capable of predicting the impact of (i) and (ii) on the instability onset of viscous subharmonic standing waves in both brimful and nearly brimful circular cylinders. Notwithstanding that the form of the resulting amplitude equation is in fact analogous to that obtained by symmetry arguments (Douady, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 221, 1990, pp. 383–409), the normal form coefficients are here computed numerically from first principles, thus allowing us to rationalize and systematically quantify the modifications on the Faraday tongues and on the associated bifurcation diagrams induced by the interaction of meniscus and subharmonic parametric waves.

We demonstrate dynamic stabilisation of axisymmetric Fourier modes susceptible to the classical Rayleigh–Plateau (RP) instability on a liquid cylinder by subjecting it to a radial oscillatory body force. Viscosity is found to play a crucial role in this stabilisation. Linear stability predictions are obtained via Floquet analysis demonstrating that RP unstable modes can be stabilised using radial forcing. We also solve the linearised, viscous initial-value problem for free-surface deformation obtaining an equation governing the amplitude of a three-dimensional Fourier mode. This equation generalizes the Mathieu equation governing Faraday waves on a cylinder derived earlier in Patankar et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 857, 2018, pp. 80–110), is non-local in time and represents the cylindrical analogue of its Cartesian counterpart (Beyer & Friedrich, Phys. Rev. E, vol. 51, issue 2, 1995, p. 1162). The memory term in this equation is physically interpreted and it is shown that, for highly viscous fluids, its contribution can be sizeable. Predictions from the numerical solution to this equation demonstrate the predicted RP mode stabilisation and are in excellent agreement with simulations of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations (up to the simulation time of several hundred forcing cycles).

For a fluid system with an interface between two-layer liquids and a free surface, there exist two series of natural frequencies. Under vertical excitations, the interface and the free surface can be excited separately or simultaneously. Laboratory experiments were conducted to excite the first- and second-mode Faraday waves on the free surface, which forced the in-phase motion of the interface. The experimental data were used to validate the extended numerical model NEWTANK. The secondary surface instability in the form of period tripling breaking occurred on the free surface when second-mode surface resonant response was large. Further numerical investigations were conducted to study the resonance of interface and in addition to the primary Faraday instability, the secondary interface instability occurred due to Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability. The analysis revealed that this was due to the contribution from the combined effects of vertical fluid acceleration and external excitation, which made the upper layer liquid essentially ‘heavier’ than the lower layer at certain instances, even when the amplitude of acceleration of the external excitation was lower than that of gravity at all times. A dimensionless parameter ‘normalised effective gravitational acceleration’ (NEGA) was proposed to quantify the occurrence criterion of RT instability in a dynamic fluid system. Furthermore, simultaneous resonances at both the interface and the free surface were studied and reverse flows could be formed across the interface as the upper Faraday waves and lower Faraday waves moved in opposite directions, which generated the secondary interface instability of Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) type. When KH instability took place, more energy was transferred to higher frequency modes as time evolved.

The instability of the interface between a dielectric and a conducting liquid, excited by a spatially homogeneous interface-normal time-periodic electric field, is studied based on experiments and theory. Special attention is paid to the spatial structure of the excited Faraday waves. The dominant modes of the instability are extracted using high-speed imaging in combination with an algorithm evaluating light refraction at the liquid–liquid interface. The influence of the liquid viscosities on the critical voltage corresponding to the onset of instability and on the dominant wavelength is studied. Overall, good agreement with theoretical predictions that are based on viscous fluids in an infinite domain is demonstrated. Depending on the relative influence of the domain boundary, the patterns exhibit either discrete modes corresponding to surface harmonics or boundary-independent patterns. The agreement between experiments and theory confirms that the electrostatically forced Faraday instability is sufficiently well understood, which may pave the way to control electrostatically driven instabilities. Last but not least, the analogies to classical Faraday instabilities may enable new approaches to study effects that have so far only been observed for mechanical forcing.

We study the development and the breaking process of standing waves at the interface between two miscible fluids of small density contrast. In our experiment, a subharmonic wave is generated by a time-periodic vertical acceleration via the Faraday instability. It is shown that its wavelength may be selected not only by the linear process predicted by the Floquet theory and favouring the most unstable modes allowed by the tank geometry, but also by a nonlinear mode competition mechanism giving the preference to subcritical modes. Subsequently, as the standing wave amplitude grows, a secondary destabilization process occurs at smaller scales and produces turbulent mixing at the nodes. We explain this phenomenon as a subcritical parametric resonance instability. Different approaches derived from local and global stability analysis are proposed to predict the critical wave steepness. These theories are then assessed against various numerical and experimental data varying the frequencies and amplitudes of the forcing acceleration.

A small drop of a heavier fluid may float on the surface of a lighter fluid supported by surface tension forces. In equilibrium, the drop assumes a radially symmetric shape with a circular triple-phase contact line. We show that such a floating liquid drop with a sufficiently small volume has two distinct equilibrium shapes at terrestrial gravity: one with a larger and one with a smaller radius of the triple-phase contact line. Static stability analysis reveals that both shapes could be stable if the drop volume is below a certain critical value. Experiments conducted with $\mathrm {\mu }\textrm {L}$-sized water drops floating on commercial oil support the existence of multiple contact line radii for a drop with fixed volume. Next, we experimentally study the floatability of a less viscous water drop on the surface of a more viscous and less dense oil, subjected to a low-frequency (Hz-order) vertical vibration. We find that in a certain range of amplitudes, vibration helps heavy liquid drops to stay afloat. The physical mechanism of the increased floatability is explained by the horizontal elongation of the drop driven by subharmonic Faraday waves. The average length of the triple-phase contact line increases as the drop elongates that leads to a larger average lifting force produced by the surface tension.

A linear stability of a shear-imposed viscous liquid flowing down a vibrating inclined plane is deciphered for disturbances of arbitrary wavenumbers. The main purpose of this study is to expand the model of Woods & Lin (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 294, 1995, pp. 391–407) for a shear-imposed flow (Smith, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 217, 1990, pp. 469–485) when the inclined plane oscillates in streamwise and cross-stream directions, respectively. The time-dependent Orr–Sommerfeld-type boundary value problem is derived and solved numerically based on the Chebyshev spectral collocation method along with Floquet theory. Numerical results corresponding to the cross-stream oscillation disclose that there exist three different types of instabilities, the so-called gravitational, subharmonic and harmonic instabilities, which can be resonated in separate unstable ranges of wavenumber by varying the amplitude of cross-stream oscillation. In fact, the subharmonic and harmonic resonances occur once the forcing amplitude exceeds the respective critical amplitudes for the subharmonic and harmonic instabilities. At low Reynolds number, the subharmonic resonance excited at low forcing amplitude intensifies but attenuates in the presence of imposed shear stress when the forcing amplitude is high. However, the harmonic resonance excited solely at high forcing amplitude intensifies in the presence of imposed shear stress. In contrast, at moderate Reynolds number, the subharmonic resonance excited at low forcing amplitude can be weakened by incorporating an imposed shear stress at the liquid surface. Furthermore, at high Reynolds number, a new instability, the so-called shear instability, arises along with the aforementioned three instabilities and becomes stronger in the presence of imposed shear stress. However, the gravitational and shear instabilities become weaker as soon as the forcing amplitude of cross-stream oscillation increases. On the other hand, numerical results for a streamwise oscillatory flow reveal that there exist three distinct unstable zones separated by stable ranges of Reynolds number. The resonated unstable zone induced by the streamwise oscillation attenuates, but the unstable zone responsible for the gravitational instability enhances in the presence of imposed shear stress. As soon as the Reynolds number is large and the inclination angle is sufficiently small, a new instability, the so-called shear instability, occurs in the finite wavenumber regime along with the resonated and gravitational instabilities. Further, the shear instability also intensifies in the presence of imposed shear stress for a streamwise oscillatory flow.

Surface waves are excited by mechanical vibration of a cylindrical container having an air/water interface pinned at the rim, and the dynamics of pattern formation is analysed from both an experimental and theoretical perspective. The wave conforms to the geometry of the container and its spatial structure is described by the mode number pair ($n,\ell$) that is identified by long exposure time white light imaging. A laser light system is used to detect the surface wave frequency, which exhibits either a (i) harmonic response for low driving amplitude edge waves or (ii) sub-harmonic response for driving amplitude above the Faraday wave threshold. The first 50 resonant modes are discovered. Control of the meniscus geometry is used to great effect. Specifically, when flat, edge waves are suppressed and only Faraday waves are observed. For a concave meniscus, edge waves are observed and, at higher amplitudes, Faraday waves appear as well, leading to complicated mode mixing. Theoretical predictions for the natural frequency of surface oscillations for an inviscid liquid in a cylindrical container with a pinned contact line are made using the Rayleigh–Ritz procedure and are in excellent agreement with experimental results.

A new class of self-propelled droplets, coined superwalkers, has been shown to emerge when a bath of silicone oil is vibrated simultaneously at a given frequency and its subharmonic tone with a relative phase difference between them (Valani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 123, 2019, 024503). To understand the emergence of superwalking droplets, we explore their vertical and horizontal dynamics by extending previously established theoretical models for walkers driven by a single frequency to superwalkers driven by two frequencies. Here, we show that driving the bath at two frequencies with an appropriate phase difference raises every second peak and lowers the intermediate peaks in the vertical periodic motion of the fluid surface. This allows large droplets that could otherwise not walk to leap over the intermediate peaks, resulting in superwalking droplets whose vertical dynamics is qualitatively similar to normal walkers. We find that the droplet's vertical and horizontal dynamics are strongly influenced by the relative height difference between successive peaks of the bath motion, a parameter that is controlled by the phase difference. Comparison of our simulated superwalkers with the experiments of Valani et al. (2019) shows good agreement for small- to moderate-sized superwalkers.

We present the results of a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the stability of rings of millimetric droplets bouncing on the surface of a vibrating liquid bath. As the bath's vibrational acceleration is increased progressively, droplet rings are found to destabilize into a rich variety of dynamical states including steady rotational motion, periodic radial or azimuthal oscillations and azimuthal travelling waves. The instability observed is dependent on the ring's initial radius and drop number, and whether the drops are bouncing in- or out-of-phase relative to their neighbours. As the vibrational acceleration is further increased, more exotic dynamics emerges, including quasi-periodic motion and rearrangement into regular polygonal structures. Linear stability analysis and simulation of the rings based on the theoretical model of Couchman et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 871, 2019, pp. 212–243) largely reproduce the observed behaviour. We demonstrate that the wave amplitude beneath each drop has a significant influence on the stability of the multi-droplet structures: the system seeks to minimize the mean wave amplitude beneath the drops at impact. Our work provides insight into the complex interactions and collective motions that arise in bouncing-droplet aggregates.

A millimetric droplet of silicone oil may bounce and self-propel on the free surface of a vertically vibrating fluid bath due to the droplet’s interaction with its accompanying Faraday wave field. This hydrodynamic pilot-wave system exhibits many dynamics that were previously thought to be peculiar to the quantum realm. When the droplet is confined to a circular cavity, referred to as a ‘corral’, a range of dynamics may occur depending on the details of the geometry and the decay time of the subcritical Faraday waves. We herein present a theoretical investigation into the behaviour of subcritical Faraday waves in this geometry and explore the accompanying pilot-wave dynamics. By computing the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map for the velocity potential in the corral geometry, we can evolve the quasi-potential flow between successive droplet impacts, which, when coupled with a simplified model for the droplet’s vertical motion, allows us to derive and implement a highly efficient discrete-time iterative map for the pilot-wave system. We study the onset of the Faraday instability, the emergence and quantisation of circular orbits and simulate the exotic dynamics that arises in smaller corrals.

In the quest to understand the dynamics of distributed systems on time-dependent spatial domains, we study experimentally the response to domain deformations by Faraday wave patterns – standing waves formed on the free surface of a liquid layer due to its vertical vibration – chosen as a paradigm owing to their historical use in testing new theories and ideas. In our experimental set-up of a vibrating water container with controlled positions of lateral walls and liquid layer depth, the characteristics of the patterns are measured using the Fourier transform profilometry technique, which allows us to reconstruct an accurate time history of the pattern three-dimensional landscape and reveal how it reacts to the domain dynamics on various length and time scales. Analysis of Faraday waves on growing, shrinking and oscillating domains leads to a number of intriguing results. First, the observation of a transverse instability – namely, when a two-dimensional pattern experiences an instability in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the domain deformation – provides a new facet to the stability picture compared to the one-dimensional systems in which the longitudinal (Eckhaus) instability accounts for pattern transformation on time-varying domains. Second, the domain evolution rate is found to be a key factor dictating the patterns observed on the path between the initial and final domain aspect ratios. Its effects range from allowing the formation of complex sequences of patterns to impeding the appearance of any new pattern on the path. Third, the shrinkage–growth process turns out to be generally irreversible on a horizontally evolving domain, but becomes reversible in the case of a time-dependent liquid layer depth, i.e. when the dilution and convective effects of the domain flow are absent. These experimentally observed enigmatic effects of the domain size variations in time are complemented here with appropriate theoretical insights elucidating the dynamics of two-dimensional pattern evolution, which proves to be more intricate compared to one-dimensional systems.

The Faraday instability in a system of two conjugated immiscible liquid layers with disparate thicknesses is investigated. The top layer is relatively thick and undergoes short-wavelength instabilities, while the bottom layer is thin and undergoes long-wavelength instabilities. The two layers are coupled by the kinematic and dynamic relations at the interface. Through linear stability analysis, a lubrication effect, which significantly reduces the destabilization threshold, is identified. Especially when the vibration frequency is low, the lubrication effect is seen to influence the transition between the harmonic and subharmonic instability modes. It is studied how far the system with two layers can be approximated by a single-layer system with a Navier-slip boundary condition at the bottom. In corresponding experiments it is found that the time-periodic excitation of the system creates a steady-state deformation of the bottom layer. This indicates nonlinear dynamics of the system and the violation of reversibility. The excellent agreement between experimental and theoretical results for the onset of the instability underpins the validity of the linear stability analysis.