Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

How drops of liquid move along parallel fibres in a perpendicular airflow

Drops sitting on an array of parallel fibres spontaneously move along the fibres when subject to an airflow perpendicular to the array. The drops show long-range aerodynamic interactions with their downstream and upstream neighbours, and these can catalyse drop coalescence and removal of drops from the fibres — relevant for applications such as fog harvesting and filtration.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Aerodynamic interaction of drops on parallel fibres.

References

  1. Batchelor, G. K. An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012). This classic textbook on fluid dynamics includes a few sections on the physics of flow past a sphere.

  2. Ern, P., Risso, F., Fabre, D. & Magnaudet, J. Wake-induced oscillatory paths of bodies freely rising or falling in fluids. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 44, 97–121 (2012). A review article on the rich dynamics of falling or rising objects in fluids, which emerge due to wake instabilities.

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Bintein, P.-B., Bense, H., Clanet, C. & Quéré, D. Self-propelling droplets on fibres subject to a crosswind. Nat. Phys. 15, 1027–1032 (2019). This paper reports the surprising observation of drop motion on fibres when subjected to a perpendicular airflow.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Park, K.-C., Chhatre, S. S., Srinivasan, S., Cohen, R. E. & McKinley, G. H. Optimal design of permeable fiber network structures for fog harvesting. Langmuir 29, 13269–13277 (2013). This article discusses optimization of the mesh network used in fog harvesting nets.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Yeganeh, M. S. et al. Solid with infused reactive liquid (SWIRL): A novel liquid-based separation approach for effective CO2 capture. Sci. Adv. 8, eabm0144 (2022). This article covers the design and use of a textured liquid-infused surface for CO2 capture.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Wilson, J. L. et al. Aerodynamic interactions of drops on parallel fibres. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02159-4 (2023).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

How drops of liquid move along parallel fibres in a perpendicular airflow. Nat. Phys. 19, 1565–1566 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02171-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02171-8

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing