Capturing drops with a thin fiber.

Abstract

We study experimentally the dynamics of drops impacting horizontal fibers and characterize the ability of these objects to capture the drops. We first show that a drop larger than a critical radius cannot be trapped by a fiber whatever its velocity. We determine this critical size as a function of the fiber radius. Then we show that for smaller drops, different situations can occur: at a low impact velocity, the drop is entirely captured by the fiber, whereas some liquid is ejected when arriving faster. We quantify the threshold velocity of capture.