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Howard A. Stone

Publications and source records attributed to Howard A. Stone.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
arXiv2013

The Marangoni flow of soluble amphiphiles

Surfactant distribution heterogeneities at a fluid/fluid interface trigger the Marangoni effect, i.e. a bulk flow due to a surface tension gradient. The influence of surfactant solubility in the bulk on these flows remains incompletely characterized. Here we study Marangoni flows sustained by injection of hydrosoluble surfactants at the air/water interface. We show that the flow extent increases with a decrease of the critical micelle concentration, i.e. the concentration at which these surfactants self-assemble in water. We document the universality of the surface velocity field and predict scaling laws based on hydrodynamics and surfactant physicochemistry that capture the flow features.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2013

Nanoemulsions obtained via bubble bursting at a compound interface

The bursting of bubbles at an air/liquid interface is a familiar occurrence important to foam stability, cell cultures in bioreactors and mass transfer between the sea and atmosphere. Here we document the hitherto unreported formation and dispersal into the water column of submicrometre oil droplets following bubble bursting at a compound air/oil/water-with-surfactant interface. We show that dispersal results from the detachment of an oil spray from the bottom of the bubble towards water during bubble collapse. We provide evidence that droplet size is selected by physicochemical interactions between oil molecules and the surfactants rather than by hydrodynamic effects. We illustrate the unrecognized role that this dispersal mechanism may play in the fate of the sea surface micro-layer and of pollutant spills by dispersing petroleum in the water column. Finally, our system provides an energy-efficient route, with potential upscalability and wide applicability, for applications in drug delivery, food production and material science, which we demonstrate by producing polymeric nanoparticles.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2013

Buckling dynamics of a solvent-stimulated stretched elastomeric sheet

When stretched uniaxially, a thin elastic sheet may exhibit buckling. The occurrence of buckling depends on the geometrical properties of the sheet and the magnitude of the applied strain. Here we show that an elastomeric sheet initially stable under uniaxial stretching can destabilize when exposed to a solvent that swells the elastomer. We demonstrate experimentally and computationally that the features of the buckling pattern depend on the magnitude of stretching, and this observation offers a new way for controlling the shape of a swollen homogeneous thin sheet.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2012

Stokes flow in a drop evaporating from a liquid subphase

The evaporation of a drop from a liquid subphase is investigated. The two liquids are immiscible, and the contact angles between them are given by the Neumann construction. The evaporation of the drop gives rise to flows in both liquids, which are coupled by the continuity of velocity and shear-stress conditions. We derive self-similar solutions to the velocity fields in both liquids close to the three-phase contact line, where the drop geometry can be approximated by a wedge. We focus on the case where Marangoni stresses are negligible, for which the flow field consists of three contributions: flow driven by the evaporative flux from the drop surface, flow induced by the receding motion of the contact line, and an eigenmode flow that satisfies the homogeneous boundary conditions. The eigenmode flow is asymptotically subdominant for all contact angles. The moving contact-line flow dominates when the angle between the liquid drop and the horizontal surface of the liquid subphase is smaller than $90^\circ$, while the evaporative-flux driven flow dominates for larger angles. A parametric study is performed to show how the velocity fields in the two liquids depend on the contact angles between the liquids and their viscosity ratio.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2012

Hydrodynamically-driven colloidal assembly in the thin-film entrainment regime

We study numerically the hydrodynamics of dip coating from a suspension and report a mechanism for colloidal assembly and pattern formation on smooth and uniform substrates. Below a critical withdrawal speed of the substrate, capillary forces required to deform the meniscus prevent colloidal particles from entering the coating film. Capillary forces are overcome by hydrodynamic drag only after a minimum number of particles organize in a close-packed formation within the meniscus. Once within the film, the formed assembly moves at nearly the withdrawal speed and rapidly separates from the next assembly. The interplay between hydrodynamic and capillary forces can thus produce periodic and regular structures within the curved meniscus that extends below the withdrawn film. The hydrodynamically-driven assembly documented here is consistent with stripe pattern formations observed experimentally in the so-called thin-film entrainment regime.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2012

Corrugated interfaces in multiphase core-annular flow

Microfluidic devices can be used to produce highly controlled and monodisperse double or multiple emulsions. The presence of inner drops inside a jet of the middle phase introduces deformations in the jet, which leads to breakup into monodisperse double emulsions. However, the ability to generate double emulsions can be compromised when the interfacial tension between the middle and outer phases is low, leading to flow with high capillary and Weber numbers. In this case, the interface between the fluids is initially deformed by the inner drops but the jet does not break into drops. Instead, the jet becomes highly corrugated, which prevents formation of controlled double emulsions. We show using numerical calculations that the corrugations are caused by the inner drops perturbing the interface and the perturbations are then advected by the flow into complex shapes.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2012

Source-like solution for radial imbibition into a homogeneous semi-infinite porous medium

We describe the imbibition process from a point source into a homogeneous semi-infinite porous material. When body forces are negligible, the advance of the wetting front is driven by capillary pressure and resisted by viscous forces. With the assumption that the wetting front assumes a hemispherical shape, our analytical results show that the absorbed volume flow rate is approximately constant with respect to time, and that the radius of the wetting evolves in time as r \approx t^(1/3). This cube-root law for the long-time dynamics is confirmed by experiments using a packed cell of glass microspheres with average diameter of 42 μm. This result complements the classical one-dimensional imbibition result where the imbibition length l \approx t^(1/2), and studies in axisymmetric porous cones with small opening angles where l \approx t^(1/4) at long times.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2011

Dynamical thickening transition in plate coating with concentrated surfactant solutions

We present a large range of experimental data concerning the influence of surfactants on the well-known Landau-Levich-Derjaguin experiment where a liquid film is generated by pulling a solid plate out of a bath. The thickness h of the film was measured as a function of the pulling velocity V for different kind of surfactant and at various concentrations. Measuring the thickening factor $α=h/h_{LLD}$, where hLLD is obtained for a pure liquid, in a wide range of capillary ($Ca=ηV/γ$), two regimes of constant thickening can be identified: at small capillary number, $α$ is large due to a confinement and surface elasticity (or Marangoni) effects and at large Ca, $α$ is slightly higher than unity, due to surface viscous effects. At intermediate Ca, $α$ decreases as Ca increases along a "dynamic transition". In the case of non-ionic surfactants, the dynamic transition occurs at a fixed Ca, independently of the surfactant concentration, while for ionic surfactants, the dynamic transition depends on the concentration due to the existence of an electrostatic barrier. The control of physico-chemical parameters allowed us to elucidate the nature of the dynamic transition and to relate it to surface rheology.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2011

Dynamics of elastocapillary rise

We present the results of a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the surface-tension-driven coalescence of flexible structures. Specifically, we consider the dynamics of the rise of a wetting liquid between flexible sheets that are clamped at their upper ends. As the elasticity of the sheets is progressively increased, we observe a systematic deviation from the classical diffusive-like behaviour: the time to reach equilibrium increases dramatically and the departure from classical rise occurs sooner, trends that we elucidate via scaling analyses. Three distinct temporal regimes are identified and subsequently explored by developing a theoretical model based on lubrication theory and the linear theory of plates. The resulting free-boundary problem is solved numerically and good agreement is obtained with experiments.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2010

Semi-permeable vesicles composed of natural clay

We report a simple route to form robust, inorganic, semi-permeable compartments composed of montmorillonite, a natural plate-like clay mineral that occurs widely in the environment. Mechanical forces due to shear in a narrow gap assemble clay nanoplates from an aqueous suspension onto air bubbles. Translucent vesicles suspended in a single-phase liquid are produced when the clay-covered air bubbles are exposed to a variety of water-miscible organic liquids. These vesicles of clay are mechanically robust and are stable in water and other liquids. The formation of clay vesicles can be described by a physical mechanism that recognizes changes in the wetting characteristics of clay-covered air bubbles in organic liquids. The clay vesicles are covered with small pores and so intrinsically exhibit size-selective permeability, which allows spontaneous compartmentalization of self-assembling molecules in aqueous environments. The results we report here expand our understanding of potential paths to micro-compartmentalization in natural settings and are of relevance to theories of colloidal aggregation, mineral cycles, and the origins of life.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2010

Surfactant-assisted spreading of an oil-in-water emulsion on the surface of a liquid bath

This fluid dynamics video shows how an oil-in-water emulsion stabilized by an ionic surfactant spreads on the free surface of a layer of pure water. The spreading shows two intriguing features: a transparent area surrounding the source of oil droplets, and a fast retraction of the layer of oil droplets on itself once the source has emptied. We show that the dynamics of spreading are strongly connected to the interfacial/bulk properties of the surfactant.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2010

Effective slip boundary conditions for arbitrary periodic surfaces: The surface mobility tensor

In a variety of applications, most notably microfluidic design, slip-based boundary conditions have been sought to characterize fluid flow over patterned surfaces. We focus on laminar shear flows over surfaces with periodic height fluctuations and/or fluctuating Navier scalar slip properties. We derive a general formula for the "effective slip", which describes equivalent fluid motion at the mean surface as depicted by the linear velocity profile that arises far from it. We show that the slip and the applied stress are related linearly through a tensorial mobility matrix, and the method of domain perturbation is then used to derive an approximate formula for the mobility law directly in terms of surface properties. The specific accuracy of the approximation is detailed, and the mobility relation is then utilized to address several questions, such as the determination of optimal surface shapes and the effect of random surface fluctuations on fluid slip.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2008

Liquid acrobatics

We experiment with injecting a continuous stream of gas into a shallow liquid, similar to how one might blow into a straw placed at the bottom of a near-empty drink. By varying the angle of the straw (here a metal needle), we observe a variety of dynamics, which we film using a high-speed camera. Most noteworthy is an intermediate regime in which cyclical jets erupt from the air-liquid interface and breakup into air-born droplets. These droplets trace out a parabolic trajectory and bounce on the air-liquid interface before eventually coalescing. The shape of each jet, as well as the time between jets, is remarkably similar and leads to droplets with nearly identical trajectories. The following article accompanies the linked fluid dynamics video submitted to the Gallery of Fluid Motion in 2008.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2007

Dissolution Arrest and Stability of Armored Bubbles

Dissolving armored bubbles stabilize with nonspherical shapes by jamming the initially Brownian particles adsorbed on their interfaces. In a gas-saturated solution, these shapes are characterized by planar facets or folds for decreasing ratios of the particle to bubble radii. We perform numerical simulations that mimic dissolution, and show that the faceted shape represents a local minimum of energy during volume reduction. This minimum is marked by the vanishing of the Laplace overpressure $ΔP$, which together with the existence of a $V$-interval where $dΔP/dV>0$ guarantees stability against dissolution. The reduction of $ΔP$ is due to the saddle-shape deformation of most of the interface which accompanies the reduction in the mean curvature of the interface.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2006

Relaxation time of the topological T1 process in a two-dimensional foam

The elementary topological T1 process in a two-dimensional foam corresponds to the "flip" of one soap film with respect to the geometrical constraints. From a mechanical point of view, this T1 process is an elementary relaxation process through which the entire structure of an out-of-equilibrium foam evolves. The dynamics of this elementary relaxation process has been poorly investigated and is generally neglected during simulations of foams. We study both experimentally and theoretically the T1 dynamics in a dry two-dimensional foam. We show that the dynamics is controlled by the surface viscoelastic properties of the soap films (surface shear plus dilatational viscosity, ms+k, and Gibbs elasticity e), and is independent of the shear viscosity of the bulk liquid. Moreover, our approach illustrates that the dynamics of T1 relaxation process provides a convenient tool for measuring the surface rheological properties: we obtained e = 32+/-8 mN/m and ms+k = 1.3+/-0.7 mPa.m.s for SDS, and e = 65+/-12 mN/m and ms+k = 31+/-12 mPa.m.s for BSA, in good agreement with values reported in the literature.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2006

Mechanics of Interfacial Composite Materials

Recent experiments and simulations have demonstrated that particle-covered interfaces can exist in stable non-spherical shapes as a result of the steric jamming of the interfacially trapped particles, which confers the interface with solid-like properties. We provide an experimental and theoretical characterization of the mechanical properties of these armored objects, with attention given to the two-dimensional granular state of the interface. Small inhomogeneous stresses produce a plastic response while homogeneous stresses produce a weak elastic response. Shear-driven particle-scale rearrangements explain the basic threshold needed to obtain the near-perfect plastic deformation that is observed. Furthermore, the inhomogeneous stress state of the interface is exhibited experimentally by using surfactants to destabilize the particles on the surface. Since the interfacially trapped particles retain their individual characteristics, armored interfaces can be recognized as a kind of composite material with distinct chemical, structural and mechanical properties.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2006

Microstructure, morphology and lifetime of armored bubbles exposed to surfactants

We report the behavior of particle-stabilized bubbles (armored bubbles) when exposed to various classes and concentrations of surfactants. The bubbles are non-spherical due to the jamming of the particles on the interface and are stable to dissolution prior to the addition of surfactant. We find that the dissolving bubbles exhibit distinct morphological, microstructural, and lifetime changes, which correlate with the concentration of surfactant employed. For low concentrations of surfactant an armored bubble remains non-spherical while dissolving, while for concentrations close to and above the surfactant CMC a bubble reverts to a spherical shape before dissolving. We propose a microstructural interpretation, supported by our experimental observations of particle dynamics on the bubble interface, that recognizes the role of interfacial jamming and stresses in particle stabilization and surfactant-mediated destabilization of armored bubbles.

cond-mat.soft↗