Knowledge Base

Found 5 Results

Article

How a water drop removes a particle from a hydrophobic surface

Abhinav Naga, Anke Kaltbeitzel, William SY Wong, Lukas Hauer, Hans-Jürgen Butt, Doris Vollmer

2021Soft Matter17(7)1746-1755

Keywordsdrop, wetting

DisciplinesFluid Mechanics, Physics, Surface Chemistry

CategoriesLaboratory experiments, Theoretical modelling

Scale1e-6 to 1e-3 m / 1e-3 to 1 s, 1 to 60 s

Non-expert summaryThe authors use confocal microscopy to directly image how drops (approx. 1 mm diameter) capture and remove particles (approx. 250 µm diameter) from flat hydrophobic surfaces at a range of speeds (10-500 µm/s). The force acting on the drop during the removal process is also measured by imaging the deflection of a flexible cantilever with a known spring constant. At low speeds (50 µm/s), the particle attaches to the drop/air interface due to surface tension, and the particle is successfully removed. At high speeds (500 µm/s), the particle crosses the interface because surface tension is insufficient to overcome the friction force acting on the particle as it rolls on the surface. Consequently, the particle detaches from the drop and remains on the surface. In both cases, the viscous stress acting on the particle is small compared to surface tension and can be neglected when the liquid is water. These results suggest that two main forces govern the removal of particles from surfaces by drops: surface tension of the drop and friction force between the particle and the surface. These findings will help guide the design of self-cleaning surfaces.

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Article

Three-dimensional advective–diffusive boundary layers in open channels with parallel and inclined walls

Etzold, M.A., Landel, J.R., Dalziel, S.B.

2020International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer153119504

Keywordscleaning, decontamination, drop, heat transfer, mass transfer, narrow channel

DisciplinesChemical Engineering, Fluid Mechanics

CategoriesNumerical simulations, Theoretical modelling

Scale1e-6 to 1e-3 m, 1e-3 m, 1e-3 to 1 m / 1e-3 to 1 s, 1 to 60 s, 1 to 60 min, 1 to 24 hours

Non-expert summaryThe authors consider the steady laminar advective transport of a diffusive component released at the base of a narrow three-dimensional longitudinal open channel with non-absorbing side walls and rectangular or truncated-wedge-shaped cross-sections: the findings are relevant to heat and mass transfer applications in confined U-shaped or V-shaped channels (or trenches) such as might arise in the decontamination and cleaning of narrow gaps, crevices and boundary features on walls or other surfaces, and well as transport processes in chemical or biological microfluidic devices. The fluid flows along the channel in the laminar regime and there is no flux or slip on the side walls. Numerical simulations are conducted for various duct shapes and the rate of mass transfer from the base is calculated: this is used to evaluate the dimensionless mass transfer coefficient, the Sherwood number. The results for 3-D (constant cross section, long in the direction of flow) are compared favourably with results for a simplified, 2-D, calculation.

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Article

Sliding, pinch-off and detachment of a droplet on a wall in shear flow

Ding, H., Gilani, M.N.H., Spelt, P.D.M.

2010Journal of Fluid Mechanics644217–244

Keywordsdecontamination, drop, hydrodynamics, interfacial dynamics, shear flow

DisciplinesChemical Engineering, Fluid Mechanics

CategoriesNumerical simulations, Theoretical modelling

Non-expert summaryThis modelling study considers what happens after a droplet is set into motion by the action of an impose shear flow. Inertial effects and contact-angle hysteresis are both considered. A number of flow regimes are investigated, including steadily moving drops, partial and entire droplet entrainment. The critical conditions (capillary number) for the onset of entrainment are determined for pinned as well as for moving drops. The approach to breakup is then investigated in detail, including the growth of a ligament on a drop, and the reduction of the radius of a pinching neck. A model based on an energy argument is proposed for the rate of elongation of ligaments. The paper concludes with an investigation of detachment of a hydrophobic droplet from a solid wall.

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Article

Self-cleaning of a hydrophobic surface by a rolling water droplet

Hassan, G., Yilbas, B.S., Al-Sharafi, A., Al-Qahtani, H.

2019Scientific Reports95744

Keywordscleaning, drop, flow displacement, wetting

DisciplinesMechanical Engineering, Surface Chemistry

CategoriesLaboratory experiments, Theoretical modelling

Scale1e-6 to 1e-3 m, 1e-3 m, 1e-3 to 1 m / 1e-3 to 1 s, 1 to 60 s

Non-expert summaryThis is an experimental study of removal of dust particles from a hydrophobic surface by a rolling/sliding water droplet. The effect of surface inclination angle on droplet dynamics and dust removal is analyses and compared with a model. Droplet rolling dominates over sliding. Removal is mainly due to the droplet liquid coating the particles as it passes over the particle, and the removal efficiency is determined by the inclination of the surface.

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Article

Convective mass transfer from a submerged drop in a thin falling film

Landel, J.R., Thomas, A.L., McEvoy, H., Dalziel, S.B.

2016J. Fluid Mech.789630-668

Keywordsdecontamination, drop, film flow, interfacial dynamics, mass transfer

DisciplinesChemical Engineering, Fluid Mechanics

CategoriesLaboratory experiments, Theoretical modelling

Scale1e-6 to 1e-3 m, 1e-3 m / 1e-3 to 1 s, 1 to 60 s, 1 to 60 min

Non-expert summaryThis is an experimental and modelling study of the removal of a passive tracer contained in small, thin, viscous drops attached to a flat inclined substrate using the flow of a thin gravity-driven film. The drop cannot be detached either partially or completely from the surface by the mechanical forces exerted by the cleaning fluid on the drop. Convective mass transfer is established across the interface between the drop and the flowing liquid film and the (dilute) tracer diffuses into the film flow, which takes it away. The Peclet number, comparing the rate of mass transfer in the drop to the rate in the liquid film, is small (< 1) . Two models are presented: a simple empirical model based on film mass transfer coefficients; and a fuller theoretical model solving the quasi-steady two-dimensional advection–diffusion equation in the film, coupled with a time-dependent one-dimensional diffusion equation in the drop. A range of values of the Peclet number (0.01 to 1) is considered in the fuller model. Good agreement is observed between the experimental data and the models.

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