Origin of particle accumulation structures in liquid bridges: Particle–boundary-interactions versus inertia

Abstract

The formation of particle-accumulation structures in the flow in a cylindrical liquid bridge driven by the thermocapillary effect is studied with the aim of determining the physical mechanism which forms the structures. The flow is modeled using the incompressible Navier–Stokes and energy equations with the assumption of constant fluid properties except for surface tension, which is assumed to depend linearly on temperature. Different models for the motion of small non-interacting spherical particles at low concentration are employed, taking into account particle inertia due to density differences between fluid and particles and the restricted particle motion near the boundaries of the flow domain. Attention is focused on differences in formation time between particle-accumulation structures arising as a result of inertial effects only, particle–boundary-interaction effects only, and a combination of the two.