Elastocapillary Coiling of an Elastic Rod Inside a Drop

Capillary forces acting at the surface of a liquid drop can be strong enough to deform small objects and recent studies have provided several examples of elastic instabilities induced by surface tension. We present such an example where a liquid drop sits on a straight fiber, and we show that the liquid attracts the fiber which thereby coils inside the drop. We derive the equilibrium equations for the system, compute bifurcation curves, and show the packed fiber may adopt several possible configurations inside the drop. We use the energy of the system to discriminate between the different configurations and find a intermittent regime between two-dimensional and three-dimensional solutions as more and more fiber is driven inside the drop.     

Effect of Wettability on the Behavior of a Liquid Drop after Its Collision with a Solid Substrate

A mathematical model is developed for the behavior of a small-diameter liquid drop after its collision with a solid surface, where the action of viscous forces can be neglected. The model takes into account the effect of adhesion interaction between the liquid and the substrate. Depending on the Weber number and equilibrium limiting wetting angle, it is shown that three regimes of drop motion are possible: adhesion without rebound, adhesion after rebound, and separation at the end of rebound. Regions of existence of these regimes are determined.     

Shape and stability of a liquid drop moving at low Weber numbers

The equilibrium cross sectional shape and stability of a liquid drop moving in a gaseous medium is studied analytically. Such liquid drops appear as the final product in numerous industrial spraying and atomisation processes. Raindrops falling at their terminal speed can also be described by the present model. The equilibrium shape is formed by the interaction of two main factors; the dynamic pressure distribution in the gaseous medium which tends to deform the liquid drop into an oblate shape and the surface tension which tends to restore the spherical shape. The meridional shape of the liquid drop is obtained as a power series in the Weber number. The linear stability of the deformed shapes described above to small surface disturbances is studied. The stability analysis shows the effect of the surrounding gas flow on the natural frequencies of oscillation (vibration) of the liquid drop. The liquid drop is found to be stable in the region of low Weber numbers studied with a decrease in oscillation frequency proportional to the Weber number. This is in agreement with existing experimental data. Extrapolation of the results here lead to a Weber number of W=5.33 for breakup, again in agreement with experimental correlations.     

Equilibrium shapes of strained islands with non-zero contact angles

The equilibrium morphology of a strained island on an elastic substrate is determined. The island is assumed to partially wet the substrate (Volmer-Weber growth) and thus makes a non-zero contact angle with the surface. Both isotropic and anisotropic misfit strain are allowed. Two- and three-dimensional equilibrium island shapes are determined by using expressions for the elastic strain energy in the small-slope approximation. In this limit, the problem can be reduced to a singular integral-differential equation for the island thickness. We find that when there is a non-zero contact angle, all island shapes, for a given ratio of the elastic stress to surface energy, attain a form that is independent of the specific contact angle under an appropriate scaling. We show that for islands with non-zero contact angles, as the island volume increases, the shape approaches the geometry of a completely wetting island. But when the volume decreases, these islands approach a point while islands with a zero contact angle, approach a finite length line segment of zero volume. Multiple-hump equilibrium shapes are found. Single-humped islands are shown to have a lower chemical potential than multiple-humped islands, implying that they are the most stable. This conclusion is shown to be consistent with a stability analysis of the two-dimensional case. The effects of a tetragonal misfit strain on the three-dimensional island shape is investigated.     

Ordering effects in electric splay Freedericksz transitions

We analyze the interaction between a nematic liquid crystal and an electric field, in a cell in which splay Freedericksz geometry is enforced. Equilibrium configurations are explored both close to the Freedericksz threshold and in the limit of strong applied voltages. We frame within de Gennes’ order-tensor theory, which allows us to detect the effects of a variable degree of orientation on critical fields and bifurcation shapes. The applied voltage induces nontrivial effects on the degree of orientation as well. Up to the Freedericksz transition, the degree of orientation decreases, whereas ordering is recovered when the applied voltage drop increases. We also stress the role played by the dielectric anisotropy. In particular, the limit in which the dielectric anisotropy approaches the dielectric permittivities deserves attention, since the order-tensor theory regularizes some of the critical phenomena exhibited by classical Frank solutions.      

Equilibrium States of Mechanically Loaded Saturated and Unsaturated Polymer Gels

By a gel we mean a system of crosslinked polymer chains mixed together with a low molecular weight liquid. The polymer and liquid components mix in definite proportions as determined primarily by entropic and enthalpic effects. Swollen gels in equilibrium with a surrounding fluid bath in the absence of mechanical load are often described by a generalized Flory-Huggins equation. In this paper we consider the connection between such a treatment and the broader hyperelastic theory that treats the effect of mechanical loading in deforming the gel. A change in the mechanical loading will generally alter the proportion of liquid in the mixture, leading to either fluid loss (swelling reduction) or fluid gain (swelling increase). In such a case the gel reestablishes equilibrium only when the relative motion of the liquid through the polymer has ceased and processes have come to rest. Such processes are inherently dissipative. Our objective is to study how such reestablished equilibria depend upon mechanical load. For quasi-static loadings that give fluid gain, we then consider a situation in which the amount of available fluid is limited. In this case, increasing quasi-static loading may reach a point at which no additional fluid is available for uptake into the gel system. The associated equilibrium then transitions from a state of liquid saturation to a state in which the gel is no longer saturated. We first consider this quasi-static transition in the context of homogeneous deformation where an appropriate hyperelastic analysis shows that the equilibrium mechanical response is inherently stiffer after loss of saturation. We then consider such a transition in the context of inhomogeneous deformation by studying the boundary value problem of an everted tube subject to an axial load. Loss of saturation again leads to an inherently stiffer quasi-static response.     

中性润湿平板上液膜的惯性收缩

液滴撞击平板的动力学机理研究具有重要的理论与工程价值, 对该过程中液滴的形貌变化及主要影响因素的研究是科学技术界关注的重点之一. 液滴在高速撞击平板达到最大铺展半径以后发生毛细-惯性收缩, 收缩速率满足类Taylor-Culick公式. 结合实验与有限元方法, 对平板上铺展液滴的收缩过程进行了研究. 结果表明, 在中性润湿(接触角约为90°)平板上液滴/液膜的收缩在经历上述收缩过程以后, 会有一个慢匀速收缩过程, 速度约为第一阶段收缩速度的1/10. 对后一阶段的撞击参数影响测试显示, 该收缩过程主要与液体密度、液膜初始形状有关; 而与液体黏性、壁面润湿条件等无关——其仍然是一种毛细-惯性机制主导的液面演化行为, 类似于液体射流的Rayleigh-Plateau失稳. 尽管黏性效应对于液滴撞击的铺展行为有明显影响, 但上述结论在10倍黏性的液体测试中仍然成立. 本研究可以为液滴反弹机理研究和相关工艺控制提供参考.      

Parallel transport and defects on nematic shells

Nematic shells are thin films of nematic liquid crystal deposited on the boundary of colloidal particles, where liquid crystal molecules may freely glide, while remaining tangent to the surface substrate. The surface nematic order is described here by an appropriate tensor field Q, which vanishes wherever a defect occurs in the molecular order. We show how the classical concept of parallel transport on a manifold introduced by Levi-Civita can be adapted to this setting to define the topological charge m of a defect. We arrive at a simple formula to compute m from a generic representation of Q. In a number of separate appendices, we revisit in a unified language several, apparently disparate applications of Levi-Civita’s parallel transport.     

Problems of Hydrodynamics for a Triaxial Ellipsoid

Problems of motion of a triaxial ellipsoid in an ideal liquid and in a viscous liquid in the Stokes approximation and also equilibrium shapes of the rotating gravitating liquid mass are considered. Solutions of these problems expressed via four quadratures depending on four parameters are significantly simplified because they are expressed via the only function of two arguments. The efficiency of the proposed approach is demonstrated by means of analyzing the velocity and pressure fields in an ideal liquid, calculating the added mass of the ellipsoid, determining the viscous friction, and studying the equilibrium shapes and stability of the rotating gravitating capillary liquid. The pressure on the triaxial ellipsoid surface is expressed via the projection of the normal to the impinging flow velocity. The shape of an ellipsoid that ensures the minimum viscous drag at a constant volume is determined analytically. A simple equation in elementary functions is derived for determining the boundary of the domains of the secular stability of the Maclaurin ellipsoids. An approximate solution of the problem of equilibrium and stability of a rotating droplet is presented in elementary functions. A bifurcation point with non-axisymmetric equilibrium shapes branching from this point is found.     

Experimental investigation of the effect of variously-shaped ribs on local heat transfer on the outer wall of the turning portion of a U-channel inside solar air heater

In the present work, an experimental investigation of convective heat transfer and pressure drop was carried out for the turning portion of a U-channel where the outer wall was equipped with ribs. The shape of the ribs was varied. The investigation aims to give guidelines for improving the thermo-hydraulic performance of a solar air heater at the turning portion of a U-channel. Both the U-channel and the ribs were made in acrylic material to allow optical access for measuring the surface temperature by using a high-resolution technique based on narrow band thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC R35C5 W) and a CCD camera placed to face the turning portion of the U-channel. The uncertainties were estimated to 5 and 7 % for the Nusselt number and friction factor, respectively. The pressure drop was approximately the same for all the considered shapes of the ribs while the dimpled rib case gave the highest heat transfer coefficient while the grooved rib presented the highest performance index.     

Thermomechanical modeling of the thermo-order-mechanical coupling behaviors in liquid crystal elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomer is a kind of anisotropic polymeric material, with complicated micro-structures and thermo-order-mechanical coupling behaviors. In this paper, we propose a method to systematically model these coupling behaviors. We derive the constitutive model in full tensor structure according to the Clausius-Duhem inequality. Two of the constitutive equations represent the mechanical equilibrium and the other two represent the phase equilibrium. Choosing the total free energy as the combination of the neo-classical free energy and the Landau-de Gennes nematic free energy, we obtain the Cauchy stress-deformation gradient relation and the order-mechanical coupling equations. We find the analytical homogeneous solutions of the deformation for the typical mechanical loadings, such as uniaxial stretch, and simple shear in any directions. We also compare the compression behavior of prolate liquid crystal elastomers with the stretch behavior of oblate liquid crystal elastomers. As a result, the stress, strain, temperature, order parameter, biaxiality and the direction of the director of liquid crystal elastomers couple with each other. When the prolate liquid crystal elastomer sample is stretched in the direction parallel to its director, the deviatoric stress makes the mesogens more order and increase the transition temperature. When the sample is sheared or stretched in the direction non-parallel to the director, the director of the liquid crystal elastomer will rotate, and the biaxiality will be induced. Because of the order-mechanical coupling, under infinitesimal deformation, liquid crystal elastomer has anisotropic Young’s modulus and zero shear modulus in the direction parallel or perpendicular to the director. While for the oblate liquid crystal elastomers, the stretch parallel to the director will cause the rotation of the director and induce the biaxiality.     

A modified finite element method for determining equilibrium capillary surfaces of liquids with specified volumes

This paper describes a modified finite element method (MFEM) for determining the static equilibrium shape of the capillary surface of a liquid with a prescribed volume constrained by rigid boundaries with arbitrary shapes. It is assumed that the liquid is in static equilibrium under the influence of surface tension, adhesion, and gravity forces. This problem can be solved by employing the conventional FEM; however, a major difficulty arises due to the presence of the volume (integral) constraint and usually requires the use of the Lagrange multiplier method, the sequential unconstrained minimization technique, or the augmented Lagrange multiplier method. With the MFEM, the space variables defining the equilibrium surfaces (or curves) are expanded in terms of parametric interpolation functions, which are designed such that the boundary conditions and the integral constraint equation are automatically satisfied during each iteration of a direct numerical search process. Hence, there is no need to include Lagrange multipliers and/or penalty factors and the problem can be treated more simply as one involving unconstrained optimization. This investigation indicates that the MFEM is more efficient and reliable than the other methods. Results are presented for several case study problems involving liquid solder drops. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phase-field modeling of interfacial dynamics in emulsion flows: Nonequilibrium surface tension

A weakly nonlocal phase-field model is used to define the surface tension in liquid binary mixtures in terms of the composition gradient in the interfacial region so that, at equilibrium, it depends linearly on the characteristic length that defines the interfacial width. Contrary to previous works suggesting that the surface tension in a phase-field model is fixed, we define the surface tension for a curved interface and far-from-equilibrium conditions as the integral of the free energy excess (i.e., above the thermodynamic component of the free energy) across the interface profile in a direction parallel to the composition gradient. Consequently, the nonequilibrium surface tension can be widely different from its equilibrium value under dynamic conditions, while it reduces to its thermodynamic value for a flat interface at local equilibrium. In nonequilibrium conditions, the surface tension changes with time: during mixing, it decreases as the inverse square root of time, while in the linear regime of spinodal decomposition, it increases exponentially to its equilibrium value, as nonlinear effects saturate the exponential growth. In addition, since temperature gradients modify the steepness of the concentration profile in the interfacial region, they induce gradients in the nonequilibrium surface tension, leading to the Marangoni thermocapillary migration of an isolated drop. Similarly, Marangoni stresses are induced in a composition gradient, leading to diffusiophoresis. We also review results on the nonequilibrium surface tension for a wall-bound pendant drop near detachment, which help to explain a discrepancy between our numerically determined static contact angle dependence of the critical Bond number and its sharp-interface counterpart from a static stability analysis of equilibrium shapes after numerical integration of the Young-Laplace equation. Finally, we present new results from phase-field simulations of the motion of an isolated droplet down an incline in gravity, showing that dynamic contact angle hysteresis can be explained in terms of the nonequilibrium surface tension.     

Simplified model for mass diffusivity estimation based on dynamic pendant drop volume analysis

We present a simplified correlation for calculating the dissolved gas moles in a pendant drop during the diffusion time, for several drop shapes. After this correlation is determined, the Yang and Gu (Ind Eng Chem Res 44:4474–4483, 2005) dynamic pendant drop volume analysis (DPDVA) method for calculation of mass diffusivity from the pendant drop volume variation against time can be used. We solved the differential equation in cylindrical coordinates for the mass transfer model of the gas diffusion into the liquid inside the pendant drop, using a different characteristic length (L_C), instead of the outer radius of the syringe needle (r_n) used in Yang and Gu (Ind Eng Chem Res 44:4474–4483, 2005) for defining the dimensionless variables. L_C is the relationship between the pendant drop volume and its mass transfer surface area at the initial conditions. The generalized correlation saves time, simplifies the method application and the deviations in the diffusion coefficient calculation respect to the complete Yang and Gu model are below 6%.     

Diffusional interaction of drops in a liquid

The method of combining asymptotic expansions (with respect to a large Peclet number) is used to investigate the three-dimensional problem of steady-state convective diffusion to the surface of drops, around which flows a laminar stream of a viscous incompressible liquid whose velocity field is assumed to be known from the solution of the corresponding hydrodynamic problem. It is shown that for large Peclet numbers the heat and mass transfer between drops is completely determined by the mutual arrangement of special (starting or ending at the surface of a drop) lines of flow; under these circumstances, in the flow there are chains of drops which have no mutual diffusional effect on one another, and the total diffusional flow to a drop is determined by diffusion to particles located upstream in the same chain. For the case where the distance between the drops in the chain is much leas than P^1/2 (P is the Peclet number), formulas for the distribution of the concentration and the total diffusional flow to the surface of each drop are obtained. It is shown that the total diffusional flow to the surface of a drop approaches zero in inverse proportion to its order number in a chain, which generalizes [1], in which the axisymmetric case is considered. A solution of the diffusional case is obtained for the case where there are critical lines at the surface of the drop. The problem is solved to the end if the singular flow lines are not closed and depart to infinity. With the presence of a region of closed circulation behind the drops, the problem is reduced to an integral equation.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika, Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 44–56, March–April, 1978.The author thanks Yu. P. Gupalo and Yu. S. Ryazantsev for their interest in the work.     

Drop in an oscillating liquid

At the present time there is a complete lack of studies devoted to the forced motion of a drop located in an oscillating liquid. However, this problem is of considerable interest. For example, it represents simulation of hydrodynamic processes occurring during the irradiation of drops of one liquid located in another liquid by longwave sound. The stationary flows occurring in this case may have a significant influence on the heat- and mass-transfer processes. In the present article we investigate the velocity field in the interior and exterior of a drop executing forced oscillatory motion as a result of its interaction with the ambient liquid. At a sufficiently large distance from the drop the ambient liquid oscillates in a specified way, where s/R ? 1 (s is the amplitude of displacement of the liquid particles, and R is the radius of the drop).     

Shear cell rupture of nematic liquid crystal droplets in viscous fluids

We model the hydrodynamics of a shear cell experiment with an immiscible nematic liquid crystal droplet in a viscous fluid using an energetic variational approach and phase-field methods [86]. The model includes the coupled system for the flow field for each phase, a phase-field function for the diffuse interface and the orientational director field of the liquid crystal phase. An efficient numerical scheme is implemented for the two-dimensional evolution of the shear cell experiment for this initial data. The same model reduces to an immiscible viscous droplet in a viscous fluid, which we simulate first to compare with other numerical and experimental behavior. Then we simulate drop deformation by varying capillary number (independent of liquid crystal physics), liquid crystal interfacial anchoring energy and Oseen–Frank distortional elastic energy. We show the number of eventual droplets (one to several) and “beads on a string” behavior are tunable with these three physical parameters. All stable droplets possess signature quadrupolar shear and normal stress distributions. The liquid crystal droplets always possess a global surface defect structure, called a boojum, when tangential surface anchoring is imposed. Boojums [79], [32] consist of degree +1/2 and ?1/2 surface defects within a bipolar global orientational structure.     

The role of divergent terms in the Frank energy of nematic liquid crystals

The effect of divergent terms in the Frank orientation energy of nematic liquid crystals on the equilibrium state of the director field is studied. Such terms have no effect on the equations of motion or on the equilibrium of the medium under consideration; however, they should be taken into account in the derivation of boundary conditions. It is shown that, in the case of boundary perturbations or in the case of polar orientation angle perturbations, the divergent terms can be considered as a surface energy for the azimuth angle (this energy is similar to the Rapini-Papoular energy). In addition, these terms may cause a deviation of the director in the plane parallel to the boundary. The equilibrium problem for a nematic liquid crystal is considered as an example in the case of small periodic boundary perturbations.     

Some generic capillary-driven flows

This paper deals with numerical simulations of some capillary-driven flows. The focus is on the wetting phenomenon in sintering-like flows and in the imbibition of liquids into a porous medium. The wetting phenomenon is modeled using the coupled Cahn–Hilliard/Navier–Stokes system. The Cahn–Hilliard equation is treated as a system where the chemical potential is solved first followed by the composition. The equations are discretised in space using piecewise linear functions. Adaptive finite element method is implemented with an ad hoc error criterion that ensures mesh resolution along the vicinity of the interface. In the 3D case we use parallel adaptive finite element method. First, a basic wetting of a liquid drop on a solid surface is shown and is established the independence of the dynamic contact angle on the interface width. In addition, the dependence of the dynamic contact angle on the Capillary number is matched with experimental data. Next, some generic sintering-like flows with a fixed matrix is presented. Different geometries in 2D and 3D are considered. We observed rapid wetting, precursor films, coalescence, breakup of melt drops as well as pore migration and elimination that are all microstructural characteristics of a liquid phase sintering. Finally, the effect of equilibrium contact angles on imbibition of liquid into a porous medium is studied.     

Inhomogeneous deformation of elastomer gels in equilibrium under saturated and unsaturated conditions

A variational method is employed to obtain governing equations and boundary conditions describing finite strain equilibrium configurations of elastomeric gels. Three situations are considered: a liquid saturated gel, an unsaturated gel, and a gel in equilibrium with a vapor of its own liquid. Surface tractions can lead to equilibrium transitions between these cases. The liquid saturated gel is regarded as immersed in a liquid bath. If this bath becomes depleted, then the gel is unsaturated. The degree of unsaturation - a measure of the amount of liquid that would restore a state of saturation - affects the subsequent mechanical behavior. If the unsaturated system is further allowed to condense or evaporate its liquid component at the gel surface, then a new state of equilibrium is achieved. The transition between the unsaturated case and the case of being in equilibrium with the vapor phase corresponds to the chemical potential variable of the gel changing its value from one that is determined by a volume constraint to the value of the chemical potential in the vapor phase. A finite element method is created on the basis of the variational method and demonstrated in the context of eversion, a deformation that imposes very large finite strains. Liquid migration within the gel is not modeled as our focus is on equilibrium states that occur after all such non-equilibrium processes come to rest.