From bouncing to floating: noncoalescence of drops on a fluid bath

When a drop of a viscous fluid is deposited on a bath of the same fluid, it is shown that its coalescence with this substrate is inhibited if the system oscillates vertically. Small drops lift off when the peak acceleration of the surface is larger than g. This leads to a steady regime where a drop can be kept bouncing for any length of time. It is possible to inject more fluid into the drop to increase its diameter up to several centimeters. Such a drop remains at the surface, forming a large sunk hemisphere. When the oscillation is stopped, the two fluids remain separated by a very thin air film, which drains very slowly (approximately 30 min). An analysis using lubrication theory accounts for most of the observations.     

液滴碰撞液膜润湿壁面空气夹带数值分析

采用复合水平集-流体体积法并综合考虑传热及接触热阻的作用, 对液滴碰撞液膜润湿壁面空气夹带现象进行了数值分析. 揭示了夹带空气形成机理, 探索了夹带空气特性参数随碰撞速度和液膜厚度的变化规律, 获得了夹带空气作用下液滴碰撞润湿壁面的传热机理. 研究结果表明: 撞壁前气液两相压力差是引起气液相界面拓扑结构变化以及夹带空气形成的主要原因; 液滴碰撞速度与压缩空气层内压力以及相界面形变高度密切相关; 液滴接触液膜时, 碰撞轴上液滴底部和液膜表面速度相等, 大约是碰撞速度的1/2; 碰撞速度对夹带空气层底部到破碎点的无量纲弧长和最大无量纲夹带空气直径均存在较大的影响; 液滴和液膜的无量纲形变高度与斯托克斯数密切相关; 液膜初始厚度对液滴和液膜的无量纲形变高度和最大无量纲夹带空气直径影响较大; 撞壁初始阶段, 碰撞中心区域夹带空气对壁面热流密度分布存在较大的影响.     

单液滴正碰球面动态行为特性实验研究

在考虑空气阻力影响,确定液滴撞击球面速度的基础上,对较高韦伯数液滴撞击干燥球面动态行为过程进行了实验研究,分析了球面曲率与韦伯数对液滴撞击行为和铺展因子的影响,并与前人撞击平面结果进行了对比.实验表明,靠近撞击球面时,液滴降落速度出现明显波动;球面曲率对液滴撞击后行为影响明显,曲率较大时,液滴撞击后铺展液膜会超出球面直径并滑落,曲率较小时,液滴撞击后在球面上呈现明显的铺展、回缩、震荡、着附动态变化行为,此时最大铺展因子受曲率影响小,随曲率减小,逐渐趋向于撞击平面时的最大铺展因子;韦伯数对液膜铺展速率影响较小,但对液膜回缩时间影响明显,最大铺展因子随韦伯数增加逐渐增大,获得的关联式呈指数变化.     

Singular jets and bubbles in drop impact

We show that when water droplets gently impact on a hydrophobic surface, the droplet shoots out a violent jet, the velocity of which can be up to 40 times the drop impact speed. As a function of the impact velocity, two different hydrodynamic singularities are found that correspond to the collapse of the air cavity formed by the deformation of the drop at impact. It is the collapse that subsequently leads to the jet formation. We show that the divergence of the jet velocity can be understood using simple scaling arguments. In addition, we find that very large air bubbles can remain trapped in the drops. The surprising occurrence of the bubbles for low-speed impact is connected with the nature of the singularities, and can have important consequences for drop deposition, e.g., in ink-jet printing.     

Dripping to jetting transitions in coflowing liquid streams

A liquid forced through an orifice into an immiscible fluid ultimately breaks into drops due to surface tension. Drop formation can occur right at the orifice in a dripping process. Alternatively, the inner fluid can form a jet, which breaks into drops further downstream. The transition from dripping to jetting is not understood for coflowing fluid streams, unlike the case of drop formation in air. We show that in a coflowing stream this transition can be characterized by a state diagram that depends on the capillary number of the outer fluid and the Weber number of the inner fluid.     

Superhydrophobic wind turbine blade surfaces obtained by a simple deposition of silica nanoparticles embedded in epoxy

Samples of wind turbine blade surface have been covered with a superhydrophobic coating made of silica nanoparticles embedded in commercial epoxy paint. The superhydrophobic surfaces have a water contact angle around 152°, a hysteresis less than 2° and a water drop sliding angle around 0.5°. These surfaces are water repellent so that water drops cannot remain motionless on the surface. Examination of coated and uncoated surfaces with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, together with measurements of water contact angles, indicates that the air trapped in the cavity enhances the water repellency similarly to the lotus leaf effect. Moreover, this new coating is stable under UVC irradiation and water pouring. The production of this nanoscale coating film being simple and low cost, it can be considered as a suitable candidate for water protection of different outdoor structures.     

Electrowetting-induced oil film entrapment and instability

We investigate the spreading at variable rate of a water drop on a smooth hydrophobic substrate in an ambient oil bath driven by electrowetting. We find that a thin film of oil is entrapped under the drop. Its thickness is described by an extension of the Landau-Levich law of dip coating that includes the electrostatic pressure contribution. Once trapped, the thin film becomes unstable under the competing effects of the electrostatic pressure and surface tension and dewets into microscopic droplets, in agreement with a linear stability analysis. Our results recommend electrowetting as an efficient experimental approach to the fundamental problem of dynamic wetting in the presence of a tunable substrate-liquid interaction.     

Off-centre impact on a horizontal fibre

Fibre filters that consist of a network of randomly oriented thin fibres are commonly used to recover the liquid phase from an aerosol. During the filtration process, drops of the aerosol impact the solid fibres of the filter. If the impact velocity is smaller than a threshold velocity V_c, the drop is entirely captured by the fibre whereas if the velocity is larger than V_c, only a small portion of fluid remains trapped on the solid fibre. While this threshold velocity has been determined when the impact is centred – i.e. when the trajectory of the drop and the axis of the fibre do intersect – fewer studies are related to off-centre impact. Here, we focus on the influence of the relative position of the drop and the fibre on the impact. For velocity larger than V_c, we vary the eccentricity and measure the ability of the fibre to retain the liquid phase. Quite surprisingly, we show that off-centre impact situation enhances the ability of the fibre to capture a portion of the drop.     

Lateral vibration of a water drop and its motion on a vibrating surface

The resonant modes of sessile water drops on a hydrophobic substrate subjected to a small-amplitude lateral vibration are investigated using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling. As the substrate is vibrated laterally, its momentum diffuses within the Stokes layer of the drop. Above the Stokes layer, the competition between the inertial and Laplace forces causes the formation of capillary waves on the surface of the drop. In the first part of this paper, the resonant states of water drops are illustrated by investigating the velocity profile and the hydrostatic force using a 3d simulation of the Navier-Stokes equation. The simulation also allows an estimation of the contact angle variation on both sides of the drop. In the second part of the paper, we investigate the effect of vibration on a water drop in contact with a vertical plate. Here, as the plate vibrates parallel to gravity, the contact line oscillates. Each oscillation is, however, rectified by hysteresis, thus inducing a ratcheting motion to the water droplet vertically downward. Maximum rectification occurs at the resonant states of the drop. A comparison between the frequency-dependent motion of these drops and the variation of contact angles on their both sides is made. The paper ends with a discussion on the movements of the drops on a horizontal hydrophobic surface subjected to an asymmetric vibration.     

Hindered and enhanced coalescence of drops in stokes flows

We analyze axisymmetric near-contact motion of two drops under the action of an external force or imposed flow. It is shown that hydrodynamic stresses in the near-contact region that are associated with the outer (drop-scale) flow can qualitatively affect the drainage of the thin fluid film separating the drops. If this far-field stress acts radially inward, film drainage is arrested at long times; exponential film drainage occurs if this stress acts outward. An asymptotic analysis of the stationary long-time film profile is presented for small-deformation conditions, and the critical strength of van der Waals attraction for film rupture is calculated. The effect of an insoluble surfactant is also considered. Hindered and enhanced drop coalescence are not predicted by the current theories, because the influence of the outer flow on film drainage is ignored.     

Long-range propagation of plasmon polaritons in a thin metal film on a one-dimensional photonic crystal surface

We present experimental results on ultralong-range surface plasmon polaritons, propagating in a thin metal film on a one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal surface over a distance of several millimeters. This propagation length is about 2 orders of magnitude higher than the one in the ordinary Kretschmann configuration at the same optical frequency. We show that a long-range surface plasmon polaritons propagation may take place not only in a (quasi)symmetrical scheme, where a thin metal film is located between two media with (approximately) the same refraction index, but also in a scheme where the thin metal film is located between an appropriate 1D photonic crystal and an arbitrary (air, water, etc.) medium. The ultralong-range surface plasmon polaritons are potentially important for biosensors, plasmonics, and other applications.     

Fluid pinch-off dynamics at nanometer length scales

The breakup of a drop of inviscid fluid into two smaller drops is determined by a competition between surface and inertial forces. This process forms a thin filament of fluid with a connecting neck that shrinks to zero diameter at a finite time singularity. We present measurements of the electrical resistance of a liquid bridge of mercury as it undergoes pinch off. The electrical measurements allow us to probe the region of the singularity down to nanosecond times and nanometer lengths. Near pinch off, the resistance of the liquid bridge diverges as t(-2/3), as expected for inviscid flow.     

Capillary disintegration of a ferrofluid cylindrical film magnetized to saturation by an axial magnetic field

The subject of consideration is a film of a magnetic fluid applied on the surface of a thin magnetically soft cylinder. Quantities figuring in equations and boundary conditions describing the axisymmetric flow due to capillary and magnetic forces at capillary disintegration of the film are estimated in order of magnitude. The effect of magnetization on the capillary disintegration of the film is studied using simplified equations of ferrohydrodynamics. It is shown that magnetization shifts the range of Rayleigh capillary instability toward longer wave modes. As a result, drops arising at the final stage are larger than in the case of the nonmagnetic liquid.     

振动诱导液滴与液面不融合现象的研究

发现硅油液滴能够停留在竖直振动的硅油液面上,通过等厚干涉实验说明液滴和液面间存在空气薄膜,分析空气膜形状的变化过程,并依此建立简化模型论述空气膜阻止液滴与液面融合的原理.实验构造了浸没在硅油液面下的硅油液滴,建立理论模型估算空气膜的平均厚度,并与实验估测值对比.本文对多个液滴在液面上呼吸模式的振动现象作了描述和解释.     

Surface tension effects in the zero gravity inflow of a drop into a fluid

As a drop of fluid is deposited on the surface of a miscible fluid (that we call the solvent), it undergoes a strong pulling due to its surface rupture and it acquires a kinetic energy independently of gravity. For the drop and the solvent being of the same fluid we observe a drop injection at an initial velocity which scales as the square root of the surface tension of the drop against air. Once injected, the drop develops a transverse instability giving rise to an expanding ring. Viscosity terminates the process and stops the ring. We show that the final ring height follows a scaling law whereas two asymptotical scaling regimes can be identified for the ring radius. Received 31 August 1999     

High-speed visualization of interface phenomena: single and double drop impacts onto a deep liquid layer

Abstract  

Single and double drop impacts onto a deep pool were observed with a high-speed camera. The early stage of drop impact was investigated to detect the evolution of the interface between the fluid of the impacting drop and of the target pool. A new flow regime for the single drop impact was detected, due to a superposition of partial coalescence and crater formation. The closure of the crown above the crater was observed for some impact parameters. The submerged flow geometry generated by the simultaneous impact of two identical drops was also reported.     

Large-Biot-number non-isothermal flow of a thin film on a stationary or rotating cylinder

Using the lubrication approximation we investigate two-dimensional steady flow of a thin film of fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity on a uniformly heated or cooled horizontal cylinder, which may be stationary or rotating about its axis, in the case when the Biot number (a measure of heat transfer at the free surface) is large.We show that the film thickness (but not the fluid velocity) may be obtained from that in the isothermal case by a simple re-scaling.     

Wetting transitions on textured hydrophilic surfaces

We consider the quasi-static energy of a drop on a textured hydrophilic surface, with taking the contact angle hysteresis (CAH) into account. We demonstrate how energy varies as the contact state changes from the Cassie state (in which air is trapped at the drop bottom) to the Wenzel state (in which liquid fills the texture at the drop bottom) assuming that the latter state nucleates from the center of the drop bottom. When the textured substrate is hydrophilic enough to allow spontaneous penetration of liquid film of the texture thickness, the present theory asserts that the drop develops into an experimentally observed state in which a drop looks like an egg fried without flipped over (sunny-side up) with a well-defined radius of "the egg yolk." Otherwise, the final contact state of the drop becomes like a Wenzel state, but with the contact circle smaller than the original Wenzel state due to the CAH. We provide simple analytical estimations for the yolk radius of the "sunny-side-up" state and for the final radius of the contact circle of the pseudo-Wenzel state.     

Ultrafast interference imaging of air in splashing dynamics

A drop impacting a solid surface with sufficient velocity will emit many small droplets creating a splash. However, splashing is completely suppressed if the surrounding gas pressure is lowered. The mechanism by which the gas affects splashing remains unknown. We use high-speed interference imaging to measure the air beneath all regions of a spreading viscous drop as well as optical absorption to measure the drop thickness. Although an initial air bubble is created on impact, no significant air layer persists until the time a splash is created. This suggests that splashing in our experimentally accessible range of viscosities is initiated at the edge of the drop as it encroaches into the surrounding gas.     

等离子体闪光法识别薄膜损伤的误判消除方法

传统的等离子体闪光法,是根据探测器是否接收到来自薄膜样片周围发射的闪光信号,对薄膜是否发生损伤进行评判,这样的评判方法极易把空气与薄膜的等离子体闪光混淆而发生误判。为了消除这种误判,提出通过比较空气和薄膜各自的等离子体闪光的点燃时间,利用两者时间上的差异,实现对传统等离子体闪光法误判现象的消除方法。为了验证新方法的可靠性,借助于多光子吸收和级联电离理论,建立了空气等离体子体点燃时间的计算模型,根据薄膜与激光的相互作用原理建立了薄膜被击穿时的等离子体点燃时间计算模型,利用建立的模型仿真计算了空气和薄膜的等离子体闪光点燃时间分别为1.856和7.843 ns;搭建实验装置以实现对传统等离子体闪光法的更新,在装置中的不同位置设置三个光电探测器分别采集入射激光信号、空气和薄膜等离子体闪光信号,采集入射激光信号的光电探测器置于聚焦透镜的侧面,另外两个探测器位于薄膜样片周围且左右对称放置,分别用于采集薄膜的等离子体闪光信号和空气的等离子体闪光信号,所有光电探测器采集的信号转换为电信号后同步传输至示波器,以入射激光信号为基准信号,其与空气和薄膜等离子体闪光信号的起始时刻之差,分别为空气和薄膜等离子体闪光点燃时间。脉宽为10 ns、波长为1 064 nm的Nd∶YAG脉冲激光以0.015 cm的聚焦光斑半径、82.4 mJ的入射能量作用于光学厚度为λ/4、直径为20 mm的单层Al₂O₃薄膜样片上后,采集上述激光作用条件下的各路信号,经处理后得到的空气和薄膜的等离子体闪光点燃时间测试值分别为2.7和7.8 ns;理论计算和实验测试结果表明,空气的点燃时间总是小于薄膜的点燃时间,二者有很好的一致性。说明当强激光作用于单层Al₂O₃薄膜表面时,空气等离子体闪光先于薄膜等离子体闪光发生。基于空气和薄膜等离子体闪光点燃时间上的这种差异,利用闪光信号时间上的差别就可准确分辨出薄膜是否发生损伤,从而获得识别薄膜损伤与否的判据,这种从时间差异上识别薄膜等离子体闪光损伤的新方法,无论从理论上还是实验上均为传统等离子体闪光法误判现象的消除提供了技术基础。