We examine a static rivulet (on a horizontal plate) that is so small that gravity effects can be ignored.
The rivulet sketched in figure 1 shows two such lines.
A rivulet is a narrow stream of liquid located on a solid surface and sharing a cnrve'd interface with the surrounding gas.
In its disturbed state a rivulet has contact lines that are not straight lines but are corrugated curves that can move normal to themselves.
In the present work we begin such studies by focusing on the simplest possible rivulet.
In the present work we pose the linearized hydrodynamic stability theory for static rivulets.
The rivulet can thus be seen to have inherent fluid dynamical interest.
Let us now consider rivulets having contact lines that are $xed.