Abstract
Many industrial processes, such as surface coating or liquid transport in tubes, involve liquid sheets or thin films of suspensions. In these situations, the thickness of the liquid film becomes comparable to the particle size, which leads to unexpected dynamics. In addition, the classical constitutive rheological law for suspensions cannot be applied as the continuum approximation is no longer valid. Here, we consider experimentally a transient particle-laden liquid sheet that expands radially. We characterize the influence of the particles on the shape of the liquid film and the atomization process. We highlight that the presence of particles modifies the thickness and stability of the liquid sheet. Our study suggests that the influence of particles through capillary effects can modify significantly the dynamics of processes that involve suspensions and particles confined in liquid films.
Highlights
Suspensions of solid non-brownian particles in a liquid are encountered in various geophysical, industrial or biological systems
Whereas most of the past studies have characterized the transport of particles in bulk flow or the rheology of suspensions [1, 2], situations in which the thickness of the liquid layer becomes comparable to the particle size are less understood
This is relevant in industrial processes, such as coating by liquid curtains
Summary
Suspensions of solid non-brownian particles in a liquid are encountered in various geophysical, industrial or biological systems. Whereas most of the past studies have characterized the transport of particles in bulk flow or the rheology of suspensions [1, 2], situations in which the thickness of the liquid layer becomes comparable to the particle size are less understood. This is relevant in industrial processes, such as coating by liquid curtains. Such experiments have been performed with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids to characterize the radial expansion of the liquid sheet and its fragmentation into droplets [7, 8] and with emulsions to investigate the influence of the liquid dispersed phase on the dynamics of the liquid sheet [9]
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