Phénomènes de glissement à l'interface liquide–solide

Abstract

The problem of liquid–solid slip is described here, in a simplified manner. Today, several experiments have shown that substantial slip appears when a non-wetting liquid flows along a surface which is smooth on an atomic scale. This phenomena is characterised by a length, called the slip length, or Navier length, generally denoted by L s . A number of experiments indicate that this quantity may be as large as several hundreds of nanometers. Numerical simulations also show the existence of slip in non-wetting conditions, but the corresponding lengths found here are much smaller than those found experimentally. A theory, based on the existence of a gas film of nanometre thickness has been proposed, but has not yet been experimentally confirmed. Experiments on this are difficult, and sometimes controversial. To cite this article: P. Tabeling, C. R. Physique 5 (2004).