Financial supports were various:
EU, FNRS, ULiège (FSR), ESA (Spin your thesis), BELSPO, Tournesole-Egide
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Here are the major projects
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STABAB: Stability of Antibublles
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Finance: PDR (FNRS)
Coll.: Benoit Scheid (ULB)
2023-2026
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WOLFLOW: Wrapping Objects with Liquid Flows by Lifting them Out of their Wakes
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Finance: PDR (FNRS)
Coll.: Benoit Scheid (ULB), Vincent Terrapon (ULiège)
2017-2021
When an object is lifted out of a pool of fluid, the object entrains a certain quantity of fluid that eventually drains down. This project aims at exploring and rationalising experiments concerning these micro-flows of fluid, i.e.
flows dominated by viscous shear along any arbitrary objects.
The crossing of a fluid interface by an object remains a stimulating field of research and is of primary importance in numerous industrial processes such as in galvanisation, painting, and more generally in coating processes. Two main questions have still to be addressed: (Q1) Can we predict the quantity of fluid that is embarked by the object? (Q2) How fast and homogeneous the liquid drains out?
The experiments will be conducted at ULg-GRASP and will consist in pulling (in a control way: speed, force) canonical objects (like a sphere, a cylinder...) out of a pool of fluid. The quantity of entrained liquid, the drainage dynamics will be measured. The influence of the fluid, especially the presence of surfactant molecules, will be investigated.
The experiments will be rationalised using two complementary approaches. Numerical simulations will be performed at ULg-MTFC. The fluid-structure interaction will be modelled using an original code. The complexity will be increased starting from a 2D cylinder model. Moreover, at ULB-TIPs, a model will be constructed in the frame of the lubrication theory and implemented into Comsol for time-dependent simulations. The Arbitrary- Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method will be used for moving solid boundaries.
The conjonction of the experimental results, the numerical simulation and the drainage model will allow to obtain an unified description of the coating of an arbitrary object pulled out of a liquid bath.
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Micro-MAST: Micromanipulation and Microfluidics: Multiscale Applications of Surface Tension
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Finance: IAP (BELSPO)
Coll.: Pierre Lambert (P.I., ULB), Joel Deconinck (Umons), Jan Vermant (KUL)
2012-2017
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The scientific objectives of this network are driven by fundamental questions raised in microfluidics, interfacial science, and micromanipulation. The rational use of surface tension, surface stress and capillary effects in micromanipulation will be applied to a selected number of highly relevant case studies by the network partners, including capillary gripping, capillary filling, capillary alignment, capillary sealing, capillary self-assembly and droplet manipulation.
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Post-Doc BELSPO and then Marie Curie Cofund
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Finance: BELSPO
Coll.: Felipe Pacheco
2012-2014
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Granular material cohesion and so more.
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ODILE: Organized Deposition Induced by Leidenfrost Effect
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Finance: FRFC (F.R.S.-FNRS)
Coll.: Pierre Colinet (TiPs, ULB)
2011-2014
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When a liquid droplet is released on a flat surface whose temperature is much higher than the saturation temperature of the liquid, the droplet may “levitate” at a well-defined distance from the surface due to the violent vaporization of the gas. This phenomenon is called Leidenfrost effect. Such non-wetting state reminds droplets that roll on Lotus leafs. Natural or artificial surfaces may show this superhydrophobic property, so-called “fakir” effect. The physics involved in the latter case is very different from Leidenfrost effect. In this context, the general goal of the ODILE (Organized Deposition Induced by Leidenfrost Effect) project is to study Leidenfrost droplets made of complex fluids such as polymer solutions, colloidal suspensions or mixtures of a volatile solvent and a crystallizing solute (e.g. a salt). As the droplet evaporates during the levitation, the solute gets more concentrated, generally leading to a phase transition (glassy transition for the polymer, ordered arrays for the colloidal particles, or crystallization for the salt), inducing a rapid decrease of the evaporation rate and leading to contact of the droplets with the heated substrate. The deposition patterns obtained after complete vaporization will be studied theoretically and experimentally, both for flat substrates (self- organized deposition) and for micro-structured plates (shape-organized deposition). Vibrating the surface vertically will also be investigated, as a further way of influencing deposition patterns via droplet bouncing.
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COST P21: Physics of droplets
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Finance: EU
16 countries have joined the Action :
AU, BE, BU, FR, D, GR, IE, IT, IL, NL, NO, PL, RO, SL, SP, CH, UK
Pilot Scheme with Australia and New Zealand
2006-2010
The main objective of this Physics Action is to initiate a concerted European effort to develop the physics of droplets: Creation, manipulation, stockage, coating tiny quantity of liquid. It is also aimed at developing new devices to control the size and the mixing of droplets. This domain interests a large variety of domains: food science, pharmacology, lab-on-a-chip technology, medecine, painting, soldering..
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