Nonlinear capillary free-surface flows

Capillary free-surface flows are considered. The fluid is taken to be inviscid and incompressible and the flow to be irrotational. Particular attention is devoted to two-dimensional flows for which the free surfaces intersect rigid walls. These include cavitating flows and local flows at the front of a small object (probe or insect) moving at the surface of a fluid. A general study of the effect of surface tension on the possible singularities which can occur at the separation points is presented. The results confirm and generalise previous findings on the subject.