Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-05T17:17:12.238Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The spreading of a drop by capillary action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

L. M. Hocking  and
A. D. Rivers
L. M. Hocking
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University College London
A. D. Rivers
Affiliation:
Pilkington Bros, Lathom, Ormskirk, Lancs
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A small drop placed on a horizontal surface will spread under the action of capillary forces until it reaches an equilibrium position. The rate at which it spreads provides a means for testing certain hypotheses about moving contact lines; namely that there must be slip between the fluid and the solid boundary near the rim of the drop to avoid a force singularity there, and that the contact angle measured at the rim itself does not show the dynamic behaviour observed by measurements that ignore rapid changes in slope in the immediate vicinity of the rim but remains equal to its static value.

By the use of matched asymptotic expansions, an equation for the rate of spread of a drop as a function of the radius of the contact circle is obtained. Experiments on the spreading of small drops of molten glass allow a comparison to be made between the spreading of a drop determined experimentally and that predicted theoretically, which supports the use of the proposed hypotheses as appropriate for the study of fluid motions containing moving contact lines.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 121 , August 1982 , pp. 425 - 442
Copyright
© 1982 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Copley, G. J., Rivers, A. D. & Smith, R. 1972 Glass Tech. 13, 50.
Copley, G. J., Rivers, A. D. & Smith, R. 1975 J. Materials Sci. 10, 1285.
Dussan V., E. B. 1979 Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 11, 371.
Hocking, L. M. 1976 J. Fluid Mech. 76, 801.
Hocking, L. M. 1977 J. Fluid Mech. 77, 209.
Hocking, L. M. 1981 Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 34, 37.
Hocking, L. M. 1982a The motion of a drop on a rigid surface. In Proc. 2nd Int. Coll. on Drops and Bubbles, Monterey. JPL Publication no. 82–7 (NASA- JPL, Pasadena, Cal.), p. 315.
Hocking, L. M. 1982b The spreading of a thin drop by gravity and capillarity. Submitted to Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math.Google Scholar
Huh, C. & Mason, S. G. 1977 J. Fluid Mech. 81, 401.
Karnik, A. R. 1977 J. Photo. Sci. 25, 197.
Lacey, A. A. 1982 The motion with slip of a thin viscous droplet over a solid surface. Submitted to Stud. Appl. Math.Google Scholar
Lowndes, J. 1980 J. Fluid Mech. 101, 631.
Payne, L. E. & Pell, W. H. 1960 J. Fluid Mech. 7, 529.