Stability of axisymmetric core–annular flow in the presence of an insoluble surfactant

The effect of an insoluble surfactant on the stability of the core–annular flow of two immiscible fluids is investigated by a normal-mode linear analysis and by numerical simulations based on the immersed-interface method for axisymmetric perturbations. The results reveal that, although the Marangoni stress due to surfactant concentration variations is unable to initiate a new type of instability as in the case of two-dimensional two-layer channel flow, it does destabilize the interface by broadening the range of growing wavenumbers and by raising the growth rate of unstable perturbations. Numerical simulations for large-amplitude disturbances reveal that the surfactant plays an important role in determining the morphology of the interfacial structures developing in the nonlinear stages of the motion.