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Washing wedges: capillary instability in a gradient of confinement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2016

Ludovic Keiser ,
Rémy Herbaut ,
José Bico  and
Etienne Reyssat
Ludovic Keiser
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (PMMH), UMR CNRS 7636, France ESPCI Paris, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France PSL Research University Sorbonne Université - UPMC, Univ. Paris 06, France Sorbonne Paris Cité - UDD, Univ. Paris 07, France Total S.A., Pôle d’Études et de Recherche de Lacq, BP47, 64170, Lacq, France
Rémy Herbaut
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (PMMH), UMR CNRS 7636, France ESPCI Paris, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France PSL Research University Sorbonne Université - UPMC, Univ. Paris 06, France Sorbonne Paris Cité - UDD, Univ. Paris 07, France
José Bico
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (PMMH), UMR CNRS 7636, France ESPCI Paris, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France PSL Research University Sorbonne Université - UPMC, Univ. Paris 06, France Sorbonne Paris Cité - UDD, Univ. Paris 07, France
Etienne Reyssat*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (PMMH), UMR CNRS 7636, France ESPCI Paris, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France PSL Research University Sorbonne Université - UPMC, Univ. Paris 06, France Sorbonne Paris Cité - UDD, Univ. Paris 07, France
*
†Email address for correspondence: etienne.reyssat@espci.fr
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Abstract

We present experimental results on the extraction of oil trapped in the confined region of a wedge. Upon addition of a more wetting liquid, we observe that oil fingers develop into this extracting liquid. The fingers eventually pinch off and form droplets that are driven away from the apex of the wedge by surface tension along the gradient of confinement. During an experiment, we observe that the size of the expelled oil droplets decreases as the unstable front recedes towards the wedge. We show how this size can be predicted from a linear stability analysis reminiscent of the classical Saffman–Taylor instability. However, the standard balance of capillary and bulk viscous dissipation does not account for the dynamics found in our experiments, leaving as an open question the detailed theoretical description of the instability.

JFM classification

Low-Reynolds-number flows: Hele-Shaw flows Low-Reynolds-number flows: Low-Reynolds-number flows Multiphase and Particle-laden Flows: Multiphase flow

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Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 790 , 10 March 2016 , pp. 619 - 633
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© 2016 Cambridge University Press 

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