Eulerian/Lagrangian formulation for the elasto-capillary deformation of a flexible fibre

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Gregory Lecrivain - , Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Kyoto University (Author)
  • Taisa Beatriz Pacheco Grein - , Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Author)
  • Ryoichi Yamamoto - , Kyoto University (Author)
  • Uwe Hampel - , Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering (with HZDR), Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Author)
  • Takashi Taniguchi - , Kyoto University (Author)

Abstract

The capillary-induced bending of flexible fibres, a process also known as elasto-capillary deformation, is central to a variety of industrial and non-industrial applications, among which stand out textile flotation, stabilization of emulsions, micro-folding of elastic structures, and clogging of feather fibres by oil droplets. A consistent formulation for the direct numerical simulation of a flexible fibre interacting with a fluidic interface is presently suggested. The fibre is geometrically decomposed into a chain of spherical beads, which undergo stretching, bending, and twisting. interactions. The capillary force, acting at the three-phase contact line, is calculated using a ternary diffuse-interface model. In a first stage, the fibre deformation model and the ternary diffuse-interface model are validated against theoretical solutions. In a second stage, the two- and three-dimensional elasto-capillary bending of a fibre by an immersed droplet are numerically investigated. Partial wrapping and complete encapsulation could be simulated. The results show that the fibre curvature increases linearly with the square of the elasto-capillary length, for both low and large structural deformation.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number109324
JournalJournal of computational physics
Volume409
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Keywords

  • Direct numerical simulation, Droplet encapsulation, Elasto-capillary deformation, Fibre at fluidic interface, Ternary diffuse interface model