Skip Navigation



Mathematical Medicine and Biology Advance Access published online on October 27, 2009
Mathematical Medicine and Biology, doi:10.1093/imammb/dqp019
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Winter, K. N.
Right arrow Articles by Braun, R. J.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Winter, K. N.
Right arrow Articles by Braun, R. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. All rights reserved.

A model for wetting and evaporation of a post-blink precorneal tear film

Katlyn N. Winter{dagger} and Daniel M. Anderson{ddagger}

Department of Mathematical Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA

Richard J. Braun§

Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA

{dagger} Email: katlynwinter{at}gmail.com

{ddagger} Corresponding author. Email: danders1{at}gmu.edu

§ Email: braun{at}math.udel.edu

Received on March 18, 2009. Revised on July 31, 2009. Accepted on August 24, 2009.

We examine a fluid dynamic model for the evolution of a precorneal tear film that includes evaporation of the aqueous layer and a wetting corneal surface. Our model extends previous work on the break-up time for a post-blink tear film to include a more realistic model for evaporation. The evaporation model includes the effects of conjoining pressure and predicts the existence of an equilibrium adsorbed fluid layer that serves as a model for a wetting corneal surface/mucin layer. The model allows the prediction of dewetting rates that are compared with experimental measurements. By choosing an expected thickness where evaporation and conjoining pressure balance, we obtain qualitative agreement for the opening rate with in vivo observations.

Keywords: tear film; evaporation; van der Waals; wetting


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.