Tristan Gilet

Optimal concentrations in nectar feeding

Nectar drinkers must feed quickly and efficiently due to the threat of predation. While the sweetest nectar offers the greatest energetic rewards, the sharp increase of viscosity with sugar concentration makes it the most difficult to transport. We here demonstrate that the sugar concentration that optimizes energy transport depends exclusively on the drinking technique employed. We identify three nectar drinking techniques: active suction, capillary suction, and viscous dipping. For each, we deduce the dependence of the volume intake rate on the nectar viscosity and thus infer an optimal sugar concentration consistent with laboratory measurements. Our results provide the first rationale for why suction feeders typically pollinate flowers with lower sugar concentration nectar than their counterparts that use viscous dipping.

Critical parameters for the partial coalescence of a droplet

The partial coalescence of a droplet onto a planar liquid-liquid interface is investigated experimentally by tuning the viscosities of both liquids. The problem mainly depends on four dimensionless parameters: The Bond number (gravity vs surface tension), the Ohnesorge numbers (viscosity in both fluids vs surface tension), and the density relative difference. The ratio between the daughter droplet size and the mother droplet size is investigated as a function of these dimensionless numbers. Global quantities such as the available surface energy of the droplet have been measured during the coalescence. The capillary waves propagation and damping are studied in detail. The relation between these waves and the partial coalescence is discussed. Additional viscous mechanisms are proposed in order to explain the asymmetric role played by both viscosities.

Droplets sliding on fibres

We present the results of a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of oil droplets sliding on fibres. First, both the axisymmetric shape and the motion of a droplet on a vertical fibre are described. The motion is shown to result from a balance between the droplet weight and the viscous stresses. On a long-term range, the droplet loses some mass through coating the fibre, which decreases its velocity. In a second time, we rationalize the behaviour of a droplet that encounters a junction between vertical and horizontal fibres. Depending on its size, the droplet may cross the junction or remain blocked. The transition is well described by an ordinary differential equation equivalent to a damped harmonic oscillator truncated to the neighbourhood of the horizontal fibre. This simple system is the basic element for more complex fiber networks that would be useful in microfluidic applications involving droplets.

Digital microfluidics on a wire

In this letter, we discuss the behavior of droplets on fiber networks. An on/off transition is observed when a droplet comes around an intersection between several fibers: large droplets cross the junction while small droplets remain pinned. We show that fibers perform advantageously most operations of digital microfluidics, such as multiplexed biochemical microreactions: intersections are the basic component of fiber-based microfluidic devices.

Resonant and rolling droplet

When an oil droplet is placed on a quiescent oil bath, it eventually collapses into the bath due to gravity. The resulting coalescence may be eliminated when the bath is vertically vibrated. The droplet bounces periodically on the bath, and the air layer between the droplet and the bath is replenished at each bounce. This sustained bouncing motion is achieved when the forcing acceleration is higher than a threshold value. When the droplet has a sufficiently low viscosity, it significantly deforms: spherical harmonic Ylm modes are excited, resulting in resonant effects on the threshold acceleration curve. Indeed, a lower acceleration is needed when l modes with m=0 are excited. Modes m≠0 are found to decrease the bouncing ability of the droplet. A break of degeneracy is observed for the m parameter. In particular, when the mode l=2 and m=1 is excited, the droplet rolls on the vibrated surface without touching it, leading to a new self-propulsion mode.

Droplets bouncing on a wet, inclined surface

We present the results of an experimental investigation of fluid drops impacting an inclined rigid surface covered with a thin layer of high viscosity fluid. We deduce the conditions under which droplet bouncing, splitting, and merger arise. Particular attention is given to rationalizing the observed contact time and coefficients of restitution, the latter of which require a detailed consideration of the drop energetics.

Rain-induced Ejection of Pathogens from Leaves: Revisiting the Hypothesis of Splash-on-Film using High-speed Visualization

Plant diseases are a major cause of losses of crops worldwide. Although rainfalls and foliar disease outbreaks are correlated, the detailed mechanism explaining their link remains poorly understood. The common assumption from phytopathology for such link is that a splash is generated upon impact of raindrops on contaminated liquid films coating sick leaves. We examine this assumption using direct high-speed visualizations of the interactions of raindrops and leaves over a range of plants. We show that films are seldom found on the surface of common leaves. We quantify the leaf-surfaces wetting properties, showing that sessile droplets instead of films are predominant on the surfaces of leaves. We find that the presence of sessile drops rather than that of films has important implications when coupled with the compliance of a leaf: it leads to a new physical picture consisting of two dominant rain-induced mechanisms of ejection of pathogens. The first involves a direct interaction between the fluids of the raindrop and the sessile drops via an off-centered splash. The second involves the indirect action of the raindrop that leads to the inertial detachment of the sessile drop via the leafs motion imparted by the impact of the raindrop. Both mechanisms are distinct from the commonly assumed scenario of splash-on-film in terms of outcome: they result in different fragmentation processes induced by surface tension, and, thus, different size-distributions of droplets ejected. This is the first time that modern direct high-speed visualizations of impacts on leaves are used to examine rain-induced ejection of pathogens at the level of a leaf and identify the inertial detachment and off-center splash ejections as alternatives to the classically assumed splash-on-film ejections of foliar pathogens.

Fluid fragmentation shapes rain-induced foliar disease transmission

Plant diseases represent a growing threat to the global food supply. The factors contributing to pathogen transmission from plant to plant remain poorly understood. Statistical correlations between rainfalls and plant disease outbreaks were reported; however, the detailed mechanisms linking the two were relegated to a black box. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we focus on the impact dynamics of raindrops on infected leaves, one drop at a time. We find that the deposition range of most of the pathogen-bearing droplets is constrained by a hydrodynamical condition and we quantify the effect of leaf size and compliance on such constraint. Moreover, we identify and characterize two dominant fluid fragmentation scenarios as responsible for the dispersal of most pathogen-bearing droplets emitted from infected leaves: (i) the crescent-moon ejection is driven by the direct interaction between the impacting raindrop and the contaminated sessile drop and (ii) the inertial detachment is driven by the motion imparted to the leaf by the raindrop, leading to catapult-like droplet ejections. We find that at first, decreasing leaf size or increasing compliance reduces the range of pathogen-bearing droplets and the subsequent epidemic onset efficiency. However, this conclusion only applies for the crescent moon ejection. Above a certain compliance threshold a more effective mechanism of contaminated fluid ejection, the inertial detachment, emerges. This compliance threshold is determined by the ratio between the leaf velocity and the characteristic velocity of fluid fragmentation. The inertial detachment mechanism enhances the range of deposition of the larger contaminated droplets and suggests a change in epidemic onset pattern and a more efficient potential of infection of neighbouring plants. Dimensionless parameters and scaling laws are provided to rationalize our observations. Our results link for the first time the mechanical properties of foliage with the onset dynamics of foliar epidemics through the lens of fluid fragmentation. We discuss how the reported findings can inform the design of mitigation strategies acting at the early stage of a foliar disease outbreak.

Controlling the partial coalescence of a droplet on a vertically vibrated bath.

A method is proposed to stop the cascade of partial coalescences of a droplet laid on a liquid bath. The strategy consists of vibrating the bath in the vertical direction in order to keep small droplets bouncing. Since large droplets are not able to bounce, they partially coalesce until they reach a critical size. The system behaves as a low pass filter: droplets smaller than the critical size are selected. This size has been investigated as a function of the acceleration and the frequency of the bath vibration. Results suggest that the limit size for bouncing is related to the first mode of the droplet deformation.

Dancing droplets onto liquid surfaces

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-218225doi:10.1063/1.2335905 URL: http://trioslab.ulb.ac.be/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2006-Phys.-Fluids-Vandewalle.pdf Record created on 2016-04-28, modified on 2017-05-10