Abstract
When a liquid film flows down an inclined nonwettable surface, dewetting can be triggered at low flow rate. After a transient, stationary dry patches edged with a liquid rim form. From experimental investigations, we deduce that their shape arises in a large flow range from a balance between the rim weight and surface tension. A simple model based on this assumption provides an analytical expression for the arch shape, in excellent agreement with experiments. The patch size scales as lc2Uc/Γ (lc capillary length, Uc capillary velocity, Γ flow rate per unit length). Above a critical flow rate, of order lcUc, dry patches cannot be stationary and are swept away, leaving a fully wet surface. Both the typical size and the critical flow rate depend nontrivially on the contact angle and on the solid surface inclination.
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