A pinned elastic plate on a thin viscous film

Many problems in elastocapillary fluid mechanics involve the study of elastic structures interacting with thin fluid films in various configurations. In this work, we study the canonical problem of the steady-state configuration of a finite-length pinned and flexible elastic plate lying on the free surface of a thin film of viscous fluid. The film lies on a moving horizontal substrate that drives the flow. The competing effects of elasticity, viscosity, surface tension and fluid pressure are included in a mathematical model consisting of a third-order Landau–Levich equation for the height of the fluid film and a fifth-order Landau–Levich-like beam equation for the height of the plate coupled together by appropriate matching conditions at the downstream end of the plate. The properties of the model are explored numerically and asymptotically in appropriate limits. In particular, we demonstrate the occurrence of boundary-layer effects near the ends of the plate, which are expected to be a generic phenomenon for singularly perturbed elastocapillary problems.