The dynamics of thin fluid films

Not only are thin fluid films of enormous importance in numerous practical applications, including painting, the manufacture of foodstuffs, and coating processes for products ranging from semi-conductors and magnetic tape to television screens, but they are also of great fundamental interest to mathematicians, physicists and engineers. Thin fluid films can exhibit a wealth of fascinating behaviour, including wave propagation, rupture, and transition to quasi-periodic or chaotic structures. More details of various aspects of thin-film flow can be found in the recent review articles by Oron, Davis and Bankoff (1997) and Myers (1998), and in the volumes edited by Kistler and Schweizer (1997) and Batchelor, Moffatt and Worster (2000)