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.