No Arabic abstract
We study the dynamics of the interface between two immiscible fluids in contact with a chemically homogeneous moving solid plate. We consider the generic case of two fluids with any viscosity ratio and of a plate moving in either directions (pulled or pushed in the bath). The problem is studied by a combination of two models, namely an extension to finite viscosity ratio of the lubrication theory and a Lattice Boltzmann method. Both methods allow to resolve, in different ways, the viscous singularity at the triple contact between the two fluids and the wall. We find a good agreement between the two models particularly for small capillary numbers. When the solid plate moves fast enough, the entrainment of one fluid into the other one can occur. The extension of the lubrication model to the case of a non-zero air viscosity, as developed here, allows us to study the dependence of the critical capillary number for air entrainment on the other parameters in the problem (contact angle and viscosity ratio).
The entrainment of air by advancing contact lines is studied by plunging a solid plate into a very viscous liquid. Above a threshold velocity, we observe the formation of an extended air film, typically 10 microns thick, which subsequently decays into air bubbles. Exploring a large range of viscous liquids, we find an unexpectedly weak dependence of entrainment speed on liquid viscosity, pointing towards a crucial role of the flow inside the air film. This induces a striking asymmetry between wetting and dewetting: while the breakup of the air film strongly resembles the dewetting of a liquid film, the wetting speeds are larger by orders of magnitude.
When a solid plate is withdrawn from a liquid bath, a receding contact line is formed where solid, liquid, and gas meet. Above a critical speed $U_{cr}$, a stationary contact line can no longer exist and the solid will eventually be covered completely by a liquid film. Here we show that the bifurcation diagram of this coating transition changes qualitatively, from discontinuous to continuous, when decreasing the inclination angle of the plate. We show that this effect is governed by the presence of capillary waves, illustrating that the large scale flow strongly effects the maximum speed of dewetting.
The dynamics of wetting and dewetting is largely determined by the velocity field near the contact lines. For water drops it has been observed that adding surfactant decreases the dynamic receding contact angle even at a concentration much lower than the critical micelle concentration (CMC). To better understand why surfactants have such a drastic effect on drop dynamics, we constructed a dedicated a setup on an inverted microscope, in which an aqueous drop is held stationary while the transparent substrate is moved horizontally. Using astigmatism particle tracking velocimetry, we track the 3D displacement of the tracer particles in the flow. We study how surfactants alter the flow dynamics near the receding contact line of a moving drop for capillary numbers in the order of $10^{-6}$. Even for surfactant concentrations $c$ far below the critical micelle concentration ($c ll$ CMC) Marangoni stresses change the flow drastically. We discuss our results first in a 2D model that considers advective and diffusive surfactant transport and deduce estimates of the magnitude and scaling of the Marangoni stress from this. Modeling and experiment agree that a tiny gradient in surface tension of a few $mu N , m^{-1}$ is enough to alter the flow profile significantly. The variation of the Marangoni stress with the distance from the contact line suggests that the 2D advection-diffusion model has to be extended to a full 3D model. The effect is ubiquitous, since surfactant is present in many technical and natural dewetting processes either deliberately or as contamination.
Oscillation of sessile drops is important to many applications. In the present study, the natural oscillation of a sessile drop on flat surfaces with free contact lines (FCL) is investigated through numerical and theoretical analysis. The FCL condition represents a limit of contact line mobility, i.e. the contact angle remains constant when the contact line moves. In the numerical simulation, the interfaces are captured by the volume-of-fluid method and the contact angle at the boundary is specified using the height-function method. The oscillation frequencies for sessile drops with FCL are mainly controlled by the contact angle and the Bond number and a parametric study is carried out to characterize their effects on the frequencies for the first and high-order modes. Particular attention is paid to the frequency of the first mode, since it is usually the dominant mode. An inviscid theoretical model for the first mode is developed. The model yields an explicit expression for the first-mode frequency as a function of the contact angle and the Bond number, with all parameters involved fully determined by the equilibrium drop theory and the simulation. The predicted frequencies for a wide range of contact angles agree very well with the simulation results for small Bond numbers. The frequencies for both the first and high-order modes decrease with the contact angle and increase with the Bond number. For the high-order modes, the frequencies for different modes generally scale with the Rayleigh frequencies. The scaling relation performs better for small Bond numbers and large contact angles. A simple model is proposed to predict the frequencies of high-order modes for large contact angles and a good agreement with the simulation results is observed.
Spark plasma discharges induce vortex rings and a hot gas kernel. We develop a model to describe the late stage of the spark induced flow and the role of the vortex rings in the entrainment of cold ambient gas and the cooling of the hot gas kernel. The model is tested in a plasma-induced flow, using density and velocity measurements obtained from simultaneous stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (S-PIV) and background oriented schlieren (BOS). We show that the spatial distribution of the hot kernel follows the motion of the vortex rings, whose radial expansion increases with the electrical energy deposited during the spark discharge. The vortex ring cooling model establishes that entrainment in the convective cooling regime is induced by the vortex rings and governs the cooling of the hot gas kernel, and the rate of cooling increases with the electrical energy deposited during the spark discharge.