Waiting-Time Behavior for Large Angle Wedges of Viscous Liquids

THOMAS, LP; MARINO, BM; GRATTON, R

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Americal Physical Society

Año: 1997 vol. 78 p. 654 - 657

0031-9007

We experimentally study plane viscous gravity flows starting from triangular prism-shaped configurations with large angles α between the free surface and the substrate ( 15°≤α≤70°). We measure the time tw (waiting time) that the contact line (front) waits before moving and determine the evolution of both the thickness and slope distributions near the front for t≤tw. The waiting time is approximated by the evolution time of the global flow throughout the angular range. An unexpected finite value of tw for α>45° is probably due to a surface tension effect.