Abstract
One of the fascinating prospects is the possibility of new hydrodynamics technology on micro-scale system since oscillations of micro-droplets are of practical and scientific importance. It has been widely conceived that the lowest oscillation mode of a pendant droplet is the longitudinal vibration, i.e. periodic elongation and contraction along the longitudinal direction. Nonlinear and forced oscillations of supported viscous droplet were focused in the present study. The droplet has a free contact line with solid plate and inviscid fluid. Natural frequencies of a pendant droplet have been investigated experimentally by imposing the acoustic wave while the frequency is being increased at a fixed amplitude. It is found that a pendant droplet shows the resonant behaviors at each mode similar to the theoretical analysis. The rotation of the droplet about the longitudinal axis is the oscillation mode of the lowest resonance frequency. This rotational mode can be invoked by periodic acoustic forcing and is analogous to the pendulum rotation. It is also found that the natural frequency of a pendant droplet is independent of the drop density and surface tension but inversely proportional to the square root of the droplet size.
