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A Mean Curvature Model For Capillary Flows In Asymmetric Containers And Conduits, Yongkang Chen, Noël Tavan, Mark M. Weislogel

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Capillarity-driven flows resulting from critical geometric wetting criterion are observed to yield significant shifts of the bulk fluid from one side of the container to the other during "zero gravity" experiments. For wetting fluids, such bulk shift flows consist of advancing and receding menisci sometimes separated by secondary capillary flows such as rivulet-like flows along gaps. Here we study the mean curvature of an advancing meniscus in hopes of approximating a critical boundary condition for fluid dynamics solutions. It is found that the bulk shift flows behave as if the bulk menisci are either “connected” or "disconnected." For the connected …