Forced Wetting Transition and Bubble Pinch-Off in a Capillary Tube
Abstract
Immiscible fluid-fluid displacement in partial wetting continues to challenge our microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. In this study, we investigate the displacement of a viscous fluid by a less viscous fluid in a circular capillary tube in the partial wetting regime. In contrast with the classic results for complete wetting, we show that the presence of a moving contact line induces a wetting transition at a critical capillary number that is contact angle dependent. At small displacement rates, the fluid-fluid interface deforms slightly from its equilibrium state and moves downstream at a constant velocity, without changing its shape. As the displacement rate increases, however, a wetting transition occurs: the interface becomes unstable and forms a finger that advances along the axis of the tube, leaving the contact line behind, separated from the meniscus by a macroscopic film of the viscous fluid on the tube wall. We detail the dewetting of the entrained film, and show that it universally leads to bubble pinch-off, therefore demonstrating that the hydrodynamics of contact line motion generate bubbles in microfluidic devices, even in the absence of geometric constraints.
- Authors:
-
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of Toronto, ON (Canada)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Technical Univ. of Madrid, Madrid (Spain)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1505591
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1422435
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0013999; SC0018357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Citation Formats
Zhao, Benzhong, Alizadeh Pahlavan, Amir, Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis, and Juanes, Ruben. Forced Wetting Transition and Bubble Pinch-Off in a Capillary Tube. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.120.084501.
Zhao, Benzhong, Alizadeh Pahlavan, Amir, Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis, & Juanes, Ruben. Forced Wetting Transition and Bubble Pinch-Off in a Capillary Tube. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.120.084501
Zhao, Benzhong, Alizadeh Pahlavan, Amir, Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis, and Juanes, Ruben. Fri .
"Forced Wetting Transition and Bubble Pinch-Off in a Capillary Tube". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.120.084501. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1505591.
@article{osti_1505591,
title = {Forced Wetting Transition and Bubble Pinch-Off in a Capillary Tube},
author = {Zhao, Benzhong and Alizadeh Pahlavan, Amir and Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis and Juanes, Ruben},
abstractNote = {Immiscible fluid-fluid displacement in partial wetting continues to challenge our microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. In this study, we investigate the displacement of a viscous fluid by a less viscous fluid in a circular capillary tube in the partial wetting regime. In contrast with the classic results for complete wetting, we show that the presence of a moving contact line induces a wetting transition at a critical capillary number that is contact angle dependent. At small displacement rates, the fluid-fluid interface deforms slightly from its equilibrium state and moves downstream at a constant velocity, without changing its shape. As the displacement rate increases, however, a wetting transition occurs: the interface becomes unstable and forms a finger that advances along the axis of the tube, leaving the contact line behind, separated from the meniscus by a macroscopic film of the viscous fluid on the tube wall. We detail the dewetting of the entrained film, and show that it universally leads to bubble pinch-off, therefore demonstrating that the hydrodynamics of contact line motion generate bubbles in microfluidic devices, even in the absence of geometric constraints.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.120.084501},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 8,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {2}
}
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Figures / Tables:
FIG. 1: Fluid-fluid interface of air (black) displacing glycerol (white) under increasing capillary numbers (top to bottom) in a wetting capillary tube with θeq = 25°± 5° (left column) and a weakly wetting capillary tube with θeq = 68°± 5° (right column). The orange arrows indicate the direction of interfacemore »
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Figures / Tables found in this record:
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