The cornerstone of many coating processes is the application of a thin liquid film on a substrate, and it is usually a requirement that this film be of uniform thickness to ensure its functionality. The film levelling process is however slowed down by viscosity and challenging to achieve on non-flat substrates.
In this talk, I will present recent work aiming to understand the dynamics of thin liquid films on curved substrates and control the corresponding levelling process by applying a prescribed kinematic to the substrate thereby inducing fictitious body forces which can be used to control the flow.