Abstract: Interfacial tension was measured for hexane + water, heptane + water, octane + water, nonane + water, decane + water, undecane + water, and dodecane + water, using the emergent drop experimental technique with a numerical method based on a fourth degree spline interpolation of the drop profile. The experimental equipment used to generate the drop consists of a cell with a stainless steel body and two Pyrex windows. The inner cell was previously filled with water. A surgical needle (at the bottom of the cell) was used to introduce the organic phase into the cell (forming the emergent drop). Water was used to keep the temperature constant inside the cell (between 10 °C and 60 °C). The cell was illuminated from the back using a fiber optic lamp and a diffuser. A video camera (with a 60 mm microlens and an extension ring) was located at the front window. The emergent drop image was captured and sent to the video recording system. The cell and the optical components were placed on an optical table with vibrati...

Abstract: Interfacial tension was measured for hexane + water, heptane + water, octane + water, nonane + water, decane + water, undecane + water, and dodecane + water, using the emergent drop experimental technique with a numerical method based on a fourth degree spline interpolation of the drop profile. The experimental equipment used to generate the drop consists of a cell with a stainless steel body and two Pyrex windows. The inner cell was previously filled with water. A surgical needle (at the bottom of the cell) was used to introduce the organic phase into the cell (forming the emergent drop). Water was used to keep the temperature constant inside the cell (between 10 °C and 60 °C). The cell was illuminated from the back using a fiber optic lamp and a diffuser. A video camera (with a 60 mm microlens and an extension ring) was located at the front window. The emergent drop image was captured and sent to the video recording system. The cell and the optical components were placed on an optical table with vibration isolation legs. A new correlation was found to predict interfacial tension (γ) as a function of temperature (t) and the number of carbon atoms (n) with a deviation of less than 0.05% from experimental values.

Abstract: Drop breakup in a linear extensional flow is simulated numerically using a nonlinear model for the surface tension that accounts for maximum packing at the interface. Surface convection sweeps surfactant to the drop poles, where it accumulates and drives the surface tension to near zero. The drop assumes a transient shape with highly pointed tips. From these tips, thin liquid threads are pulled. Subsequently, small, surfactant-rich droplets are emitted from the termini of these threads. The scale of the shed drops depends on the initial surfactant coverage. Dilute initial coverage leads to tip streaming, while high initial coverage leads to the tip dropping breakup mode.

Abstract: The possibility of applying headspace microextraction into a single drop for the determination of alcohols in aqueous solutions is demonstrated. A drop of ethylene glycol containing butan-2-one as an internal standard is used for extraction. The analytes are extracted by suspending a 1 μl extracting drop directly from the tip of a microsyringe fixed above an extraction vial with a septum such that the needle passes through the septum and the needle tip appears above the surface of the solution. After the extraction is finished the drop is retracted back into the needle and injected directly into a GC column. Optimization of experimental conditions (sampling time, sampling temperature, stirring rate and ionic strength of the solution) with respect to the extraction efficiency were investigated and the linear range and the precision were examined. This headspace single drop microextraction method was applied to the analysis of beer.

Abstract: The impact of a spherical water drop onto a water surface has been studied experimentally with the aid of a 35 mm drum camera giving high-resolution images that provided qualitative and quantitative data on the phenomena. Scaling laws for the time to reach maximum cavity sizes have been derived and provide a good fit to the experimental results. Transitions between the regimes for coalescence-only, the formation of a high-speed jet and bubble entrapment have been delineated. The high-speed jet was found to occur without bubble entrapment. This was caused by the rapid retraction of the trough formed by a capillary wave converging to the centre of the cavity base. The converging capillary wave has a profile similar to a Crapper wave. A plot showing the different regimes of cavity and impact drop behaviour in the Weber–Froude number-plane has been constructed for Fr and We less than 1000.

Abstract: Part I. Introduction: 1. The role of gravity and interfacial tension in the motion of bubbles and drops 2. The governing equations Part II. The Motion of Isolated Bubbles and Drops: 3. Motion driven by a body force 4. Thermocapillary motion Part III. Interactions of Bubbles and Drops: 5. General solutions 6. Interactions when motion is driven by a body force 7. Interactions when motion is driven by thermocapillarity Part IV. Related Topics: 8. Mass transfer between a bubble or drop and a continuous phase 9. Motion driven by the interface in a body of fluid References.

Abstract: Drop and bubble shape tensiometry is a modern and very effective tool for measuring dynamic and static interfacial tensions. An automatic instrument with an accurate computer controlled dosing system is discussed in detail. Due to an active control loop experiments under various conditions can be performed: constant drop/bubble volume, surface area, or height, trapezoidal, ramp type, step type and sinusoidal area changes. The theoretical basis of the method, the fitting procedure to the Gauss-Laplace equation and the key procedures for calibration of the instrument are analysed and described.

Abstract: A four-roll mill was used to experimentally investigate the coalescence of two equal-sized drops in general linear flows. The experimental system consisted of polybutadiene drops suspended in polydimethylsiloxane. Under the experimental conditions studied, the bulk-phase rheological properties of both fluids are Newtonian. We studied both head-on collisions for a purely extensional “hyperbolic” flow that always lead to coalescence, and collisions with a finite offset from the inflow axis for several different flow types produced in the four-roll mill. The experimental results have been compared with approximate theoretical predictions of coalescence, based on an asymptotic theory for small capillary number, where the drops are spherical apart from a small planar deformation at the frontal surfaces between the two drops. In head-on collisions, it was found experimentally that the product of the film drainage time and strain rate is independent of capillary number (Ca) and drop radius at very low Ca. This s...

Abstract: Heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop were measured for condensation and evaporation of R410A and HCFC22 inside internally grooved tubes. The experiments were performed for a conventional spiral groove tube of 8.01 mm o.d. and 7.30 mm mean i.d., and a herring-born groove tube of 8.00 mm o.d. and 7.24 mm mean i.d. To measure the local heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop, the test section was subdivided into four small sections having 2 m working length. The ranges of refrigerant mass flow density was from 200 to 340 kg/(m2 s) for both condensation and evaporation of R410A and HCFC22, and the vapour pressure was 2.41 MPa for condensation and 1.09 MPa for the evaporation of R410A. The obtained heat transfer data for R410A and HCFC22 indicate that the values of the local heat transfer coefficients of the herring-bone grooved tube are about twice as large as those of spiral one for condensation and are slightly larger than those of spiral one for the evaporation. The measured local pressure drop in both condensation and evaporation is well correlated with the empirical equation proposed by the authors.

Abstract: During drop formation from a tube, a thin liquid thread—the precursor to satellites—connects an about-to-form primary drop to the remainder of the liquid hanging from the tube at the incipience of breakup. Whether the thread, once it detaches from the primary and pendant drops, evolves into a sphere or breaks into several subsatellites has heretofore been inadequately explored due to experimental and theoretical difficulties. These challenges are resolved here with an ultrafast digital imaging system and a novel computational algorithm. New findings range from the discovery of unexpected dynamics to the first demonstration of the transition from one scaling law governing interface rupture to another.

Abstract: A class of “lab-on-a-chip” devices use external air pressure for pumping discrete drops in a microchannel network. External air connectors can be cumbersome and are real-estate intensive. We have developed an on-chip technique to generate pressures required for metering and pumping of nanoliter-volume discrete drops. This is achieved by heating of trapped air in a pressure-generating chamber. The pressure-generating chamber is connected to the point of pressure application in the liquid-conveying microchannel through an air-delivery channel. The trapped air volume on the order of 100 nL is heated by resistive metal heaters by tens of degrees celcius to generate air pressures on the order of 7.5 kN/m2. The rate of discrete drop pumping is electronically controlled in the microchannel device by controlling the rate of air heating. Flow rates on the order of 20 nL/s are obtained in the microchannel (300 μm × 30 μm) by heating the air chamber at the rate of ∼6 °C/s. In this paper, we describe the design, fabr...

Abstract: This letter describes a simple synthetic approach to fabricate two-dimensional midinfrared CdSe photonic crystals (PC) by electrodeposition of CdSe in a polymer template defined using interference lithography. Characterization of the transmission spectra of CdSe PCs with a hexagonal array of 1.3 μm diameter and 2.7 μm pitch air voids showed a well-defined drop in transmission at 4.23 μm. The drop in transmission increased with incident angle, reaching a maximum of approximately 2.6 dB at 40° relative to the surface normal. This two-step synthetic approach can be used to incorporate photonic crystals onto arbitrary substrates for integration into future advanced optical circuits.

Abstract: Exopolymer-producing bacteria can be used to modify soil profiles for enhanced oil recovery or bioremediation. Understanding the mechanisms associated with biomass plug development and propagation is needed for successful application of this technology. These mechanisms were determined from packed-bed and micromodel experiments that simulate plugging in porous media. Leuconostoc mesenteroides was used, because production of dextran, a water-insoluble exopolymer, can be controlled by using different carbon sources. As dextran was produced, the pressure drop across the porous media increased and began to oscillate. Three pressure phases were identified under exopolymer-producing conditions: the exopolymer-induction phase, the plugging phase, and the plug-propagation phase. The exopolymer-induction phase extended from the time that exopolymer-producing conditions were induced until there was a measurable increase in pressure drop across the porous media. The plugging phase extended from the first increase in pressure drop until a maximum pressure drop was reached. Changes in pressure drop in these two phases were directly related to biomass distribution. Specifically, flow channels within the porous media filled with biomass creating a plugged region where convective flow occurred only in water channels within the biofilm. These water channels were more restrictive to flow causing the pressure drop to increase. At a maximum pressure drop across the porous media, the biomass yielded much like a Bingham plastic, and a flow channel was formed. This behavior marked the onset of the plug-propagation phase which was characterized by sequential development and breakthrough of biomass plugs. This development and breakthrough propagated the biomass plug in the direction of nutrient flow. The dominant mechanism associated with all three phases of plugging in porous media was exopolymer production; yield stress is an additional mechanism in the plug-propagation phase.

Abstract: At the present molten slag from a blast furnace (B.F.) is granulated by impinging much water without any recovery of its much sensible heat (1 823 K), polluting water and atmosphere. To solve these problems, we studied the dry granulation of molten slag by Rotary Cup Atomizer (RCA), in which the influence of the rotating speed of the RCA on slag drop size was mainly examined. In the experiment, the molten B.F. slag was supplied to the center of RCA with air blast. Slag drops flown from the cup lip due to centrifugal force were collected and examined from viewpoints of shape, dimension and the flown distance of the drop. Most significantly, molten slag was successfully granulated under the dry conditions without water impingement. The rotating speed of the RCA influenced the diameter and shape of slag drop very strongly. The higher rotating speed made the slag drops smaller, more spherical and more uniform. Drops with 5 to 6 mm of average dimension were obtained at the rotating speed of 15 rps (900 rpm), and drops with less than 1 mm, at that of 50 rps (3 000 rpm). In the former case, the shape of drop obtained was distributed, changing from sphere to stick at the further place from the center of RCA. The results revealed a possibility of alternative, new slag granulation process with many benefits.

Abstract: The motion and shape evolution of viscous drops made from a dilute suspension of tiny, spherical glass beads sedimenting in an otherwise quiescent liquid is investigated both experimentally and theoretically for conditions of low Reynolds number. In the (presumed) absence of any significant interfacial tension, the Bond number [Bscr ] = (Δρ)gR2/σ is effectively infinite. The key stages of deformation of single drops and pairs of interacting drops are identified. Of particular interest are (i) the coalescence of two trailing drops, (ii) the subsequent formation of a torus, and (iii) the breakup of the torus into two or more droplets in a repeating cascade. To overcome limitations of the boundary-integral method in tracking highly deformed interfaces and coalescing and dividing drops, we develop a formal analogy between drops of homogeneous liquid and a dilute, uniformly distributed swarm of sedimenting particles, for which only the 1/r far-field hydrodynamic interactions are important. Simple, robust numerical simulations using only swarms of Stokeslets reproduce the main phenomena observed in the classical experiments and in our flow-visualization studies. Detailed particle image velocimetry (PIV) for axisymmetric configurations enable a mechanistic analysis and confirm the theoretical results. We expose the crucial importance of the initial condition – why a single spherical drop does not deform substantially, but a pair of spherical drops, or a bell-shaped drop similar to what is actually formed in the laboratory, does undergo the torus/breakup transformation. The extreme sensitivity of the streamlines to the shape of the ring-like swarm explains why the ring that initially forms in the experiments does not behave like the slender open torus analysed asymptotically by Kojima, Hinch & Acrivos (1984). Essentially all of the phenomena described above can be explained within the realm of Stokes flow, without resort to interfacial tension or inertial effects.

Abstract: Experimental investigations on the process of satellite droplet formation by unstable binary drop collisions are presented. The experiments are carried out using two monodisperse streams of drops of equal size. A systematic variation of the parameters influencing the collisions leads to an extended version of the stability nomogram which involves the numbers of satellite droplets formed by stretching separation after off-center collisions. The time scales for the formation of liquid filaments and their breakup into the satellites are measured and, in the case that a single satellite is formed, the satellite size is measured by means of a phase-Doppler anemometer. Furthermore, a theoretical model for the breakup of cylindrical liquid filaments in head-on and off-center collisions is presented. The model is based on a linear stability analysis of the filament formed after the collision. The critical wavelength associated with the largest deformation energy is calculated and identified with the disturbance w...

Abstract: A spherical drop, placed in a second liquid of the same density and viscosity, is subjected to shear between parallel walls. The subsequent flow is investigated numerically with a volume-of-fluid continuous-surface-force algorithm. Inertially driven breakup is examined. The critical Reynolds numbers are examined for capillary numbers in the range where the drop does not break up in Stokes flow. It is found that the effect of inertia is to rotate the drop toward the vertical direction, with a mechanism analogous to aerodynamic lift, and the drop then experiences higher shear, which pulls the drop apart horizontally. The balance of inertial stress with capillary stress shows that the critical Reynolds number scales inversely proportional to the capillary number, and this is confirmed with full numerical simulations. Drops exhibit self-similar damped oscillations towards equilibrium analogous to a one-dimensional mass-spring system. The stationary drop configurations near critical conditions approach an inviscid limit, independent of the microphysical flow- and fluid-parameters.

Abstract: Dynamic cycling contact angle (DCCA) measurements of six liquids from two homologous series (i.e., alkanes and alcohols) on FC-732-coated silicon wafer surfaces were performed using automated axisymmetric drop shape analysis-profile (ADSA-P). Unlike the previous one-cycle measurements that have been made in a number of studies, these cycling contact angle measurements provide more information on the mechanisms of contact angle hysteresis θhyst. Both the advancing contact angles θa (except for the one measured from the first cycle) and the receding contact angles θr obtained from different cycles were found to be time-dependent. By comparing the results between cycles, were obtained θa and θr values at some specific drop radii. It was found that both θa and θr decreased with increasing number of cycles. Furthermore, both θa and θr values obtained at the larger contact radius were larger than those obtained at the smaller radius. The result is plausible in terms of liquid sorption and/or retention by the solid surface: the solid surface modification by the liquid increases with longer solid/liquid contact, leading to smaller values of θa and θr. It was also found that contact angle hysteresis θhyst, the difference between θa and θr at each radius, increased initially and then leveled off with increasing number of cycles. The result suggests that processes which occurred on the polymer surface during the experiment, such as liquid sorption and evaporation, will eventually approach a steady state and hence lead to constant hysteresis of the contact angle. This supports the contention that liquid sorption and/or retention is a likely cause of the time dependence of contact angle hysteresis (as well as advancing and receding contact angles). All θa data obtained beyond the first cycle and all θr data reflect liquid sorption and/or retention by the solid and are therefore not a property of the solid alone. Therefore, only θa obtained in the first cycle (on the dry solid) should be used in the calculation of the surface energetics of solids.

Abstract: A deposited drop of bovine serum albumin salt solution experiences both gelation and fracturation during evaporation. The cracks appearing at the edge of the gelling drop are regularly spaced, due to the competition between the evaporation-induced and relaxation-induced stress evolution. Subsequently, the mean crack spacing evolves in an unexpected way, being inversely proportional instead of proportional to the deposit thickness. This evolution has been ascribed to the change with time of the average shrinkage stress, the crack patterning being purely elastic instead of evaporation-controlled.

Abstract: Adding a simple powder to a drop of water gives it remarkable properties: the powder-coated drop no longer sticks to surfaces, and moves by rolling, much as a solid sphere would.

Abstract: We present a model describing the rebound of a drop impinging on a rigid plane wall immersed in water. This model is based on the resolution of the drop equation of motion in an unbounded fluid in which an additional pressure force is introduced accounting for the wall effect on the drop motion. This force is computed from a film drainage simulation model during the approach of the deformable particle to the wall. Results of the model have been compared with experimental trajectories of drops impinging vertically at terminal rise velocity against a horizontal wall immersed in water at rest. These trajectories have been obtained with the help of an image processing technique. A wide range of experimental conditions has been studied (drop diameter, interfacial tension, drop viscosity, and density). In most of the cases, the model predicts the experimental trajectories within a very good accuracy (height of bouncing, deformation, number of rebounds) even in the case of a significant deformation. The numerical results show that the rebound of a deformable inclusion against a wall in water is essentially governed by the balance between the added mass force and the film pressure force exerted on the drop during the impact. The model has also been successfully tested in the case of an impinging bubble at high particle Reynolds number, based on experimental data taken from Tsao and Koch [Phys. Fluids 9, 44 (1997)].

Abstract: Contact angle measurements have been widely used to estimate the surface energy of various materials. Such measurements are severely limited with substrate surfaces that exhibit surface restructuring, are contaminated, and/or are porous. Although the captive bubble/drop method addresses the capillarity problem, surface undulations have not previously been accounted for in a quantitative way. We do so here with a series of 8 different pore size synthetic polymer membranes, all fabricated from poly(ether sulfone), as model rough porous surfaces of the same surface chemistry. Also, 3 of the 8 different pore size membranes were rendered hydrophilic through photoinduced graft polymerization producing 17 different modified membranes that are similarly tested. By incorporation of roughness parameters obtained from AFM measurements, corrections to the captive bubble/drop constant angle measurements were successfully made using a simple model of the surface. The predicted average value for the sessile drop contact...

Abstract: This paper is an experimental investigation of the deformation and relaxation of a Newtonian drop suspended in a PIB/PB Boger fluid. The suspending fluid is undergoing a planar extensional flow produced in a four-roll mill. We show that increasing elasticity of the suspending fluid has a pronounced effect on both the deformation and relaxation of a drop. For steady flows, as the strength of viscoelastic effects in the suspending fluid is increased, the drops become more deformed, with ends that are generally more pointed. This leads to a decrease in the maximum (“critical”) capillary number for the existence of a steady, deformed drop shape. In transient startup and step flows, the elasticity of the suspending fluid produces a large deformation shape that is more pointed at its ends and more tubular in its midsection than is observed for a drop in a Newtonian fluid (bulbous ends with necking at the waist). This enables a drop in the PIB/PB suspending fluid to be extended to a longer length without breaking upon flow cessation. However, at smaller deformations, the elasticity of the suspending fluid retards the relaxation of the drop. The observed viscoelastic effects on the steady and transient deformation, as well as the relaxation of drops in the PIB/PB suspending fluid, cannot be explained by viscoelastic modifications of the global, undisturbed flow field. Instead, our results suggest the existence of a non-linear coupling between the drop shape, the local disturbance flow, and the polymer configuration in the vicinity of the drop. This coupling enhances elastic effects, such that a drop can display significant non-Newtonian behavior prior to any changes in the global, undisturbed flow field.