A Study of Rivulet Flow on Inclined Surface

경사면에서의 리뷸릿 유동에 관한 연구

When a liquid is supplied through a nozzle onto a relatively nonwetting inclined solid surface, a narrow rivulet forms. This work provides novel physical insights into the following phenomena in the rivulet flow that have not been well understood to date. Firstly, the fundamental mechanism behind the transition of a linear rivulet to a droplet flow is investigated. The experiments show that the droplet flow emerges due to the necking of a liquid thread near the nozzle. Based on the observation, it is argued that when the retraction velocity of a liquid thread exceeds its axial velocity, the bifurcation of the liquid thread occurs, and this argument is experimentally verified. Secondly, a discussion on the curved motion of a meandering rivulet is given. This study proposes the contact angle hysteresis as a primary origin of the centripetal force that enables the rivulet's curved motion A simple scaling analysis based on this assumption predicts a radius of curvature which agrees with the experimental observation.