A model of liquid film breakdown formed due to impingement of a two-phase jet on a horizontal surface

The present work aims to provide an explanation to the phenomenon of breakdown of the thin liquid film created by impinging two-phase, liquid–gas jet. Existing in the literature models describe merely the breakdown of single phase liquid films. The model presented here is based on examination of mass and energy equations under the applied criterion of the minimum of total energy. That allows to determine the minimum thickness of isothermal, thin liquid film created by impinging two-phase jet on a solid surface. The mechanical energy of the system consists of kinetic energy of liquid film and surface energy of all physical surfaces consisting for the control surface. An analytical expression for the minimum thickness of such liquid film is derived. The liquid film thickness at the breakdown is a function of the contact angle and shear stresses on the liquid–gas interface. Some comparisons with the experimental data are shown exhibiting a good performance of the postulated model.