arXiv subjects

Stefan Zitz

Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Zitz.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Instabilities of ring-rivulets: Impact of substrate wettability

Rivulets and droplets are naturally appearing shapes when small amounts of liquid are deposited on a partially wettable substrate. Here we study, by means of numerical simulations, the dewetting dynamics of a ring-rivulet on substrates with various contact angles and wettability patterns. In particular, we consider, beyond the homogeous case, an annular band of lower contact angle as compared to the background and a constant radial gradient of contact angle, pointing either inward or outward from the centre. We show that by tuning the parameters characterizing the patterns, it is possible to control not only the stability of the rivulet, i.e. its breakup/collapse dynamics and the associated time scales, but also the dewetting morphology, in terms of number and position of the formed droplets.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

To coalesce or not to coalesce: Droplets and surface tension gradients

We numerically study the coalescence dynamics of two sessile droplets with radii $R_0$. The droplets are placed on top of a rigid substrate with a contact angle of $θ_{eq.} = π/9$. Having a highly wettable substrate ($θ_{eq} \ll π/2$) theory predicts that the bridge height ($h_0$) scales according to $h_0(t) \sim t^{2/3}.$ This behavior can be altered with e.g. surface tension gradients ($\partial_xγ\neq 0$). These gradients appear for example with heat transfer, surfactants or having different but miscible liquids. Instead of coalescence, these gradients can lead to a stable two droplet state. In this work, we focus on two aspects of this problem. The first one is the concrete choice of the surface tension, therefore making it spatially correlated. The second one is the reduction of scale towards a regime in which the disjoining pressure becomes important. We find that coalescence can be suppressed, given that there is a sharp gradient in surface tension. If this gradient is smeared, we find an intermediate agreement with the $2/3$ power-law. In the limit of large smearing width, we observe an asymmetric coalescence.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Controlling the dewetting morphologies of thin liquid films by switchable substrates

Switchable and adaptive substrates emerged as valuable tools for the control of wetting and actuation of droplet motion. Here we report a computational study of the dynamics of an unstable thin liquid film deposited on a switchable substrate, modelled with a space and time varying contact angle. With a static pattern, all the fluid is drained into droplets located around contact angle minima, whereas for a sufficiently large rate of wettability variation a state consisting of metastable rivulets is observed. A criterion discriminating whether rivulets can be observed or not is identified in terms of a single dimensionless parameter. Finally, we show and explain theoretically how the film rupture times, droplet shape and rivulet life time depend on the pattern wavelength and speed.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Lattice Boltzmann simulations of stochastic thin film dewetting

We study numerically the effect of thermal fluctuations and of variable fluid-substrate interactions on the spontaneous dewetting of thin liquid films. To this aim, we use a recently developed lattice Boltzmann method for thin liquid film flows, equipped with a properly devised stochastic term. While it is known that thermal fluctuations yield shorter rupture times, we show that this is a general feature of hydrophilic substrates, irrespective of the contact angle. The ratio between deterministic and stochastic rupture times, though, decreases with $θ$. Finally, we discuss the case of fluctuating thin film dewetting on chemically patterned substrates and its dependence on the form of the wettability gradients.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2019

A lattice Boltzmann method for thin liquid film hydrodynamics

We propose a novel approach to the numerical simulation of thin film flows, based on the lattice Boltzmann method. We outline the basic features of the method, show in which limits the expected thin film equations are recovered and perform validation tests. The numerical scheme is applied to the viscous Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a thin film and to the spreading of a sessile drop towards its equilibrium contact angle configuration. We show that the Cox-Voinov law is satisfied, and that the effect of a tunable slip length on the substrate is correctly captured. We address, then, the problem of a droplet sliding on an inclined plane, finding that the Capillary number scales linearly with the Bond number, in agreement with experimental results. At last, we demonstrate the ability of the method to handle heterogenous and complex systems by showcasing the controlled dewetting of a thin film on a chemically structured substrate.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2015

Dyson-Schwinger equations and ${\cal N}=4$ SYM in Landau gauge

${\cal N}=4$ Super Yang-Mills theory is a highly constrained theory, and therefore a valuable tool to test the understanding of less constrained Yang-Mills theories. Our aim is to use it to test our understanding of both the Landau gauge beyond perturbation theory as well as truncations of Dyson-Schwinger equations in ordinary Yang-Mills theories. We derive the corresponding equations within the usual one-loop truncation for the propagators after imposing the Landau gauge. We find a conformal solution in this approximation, which surprisingly resembles many aspects of ordinary Yang-Mills theories. We furthermore identify which role the Gribov-Singer ambiguity in this context could play, should it exist in this theory.

hep-ph↗