English

Surfactant-induced migration of a spherical drop in Stokes flow

Fluid Dynamics 2011-03-30 v2

Abstract

In Stokes flows, symmetry considerations dictate that a neutrally-buoyant spherical particle will not migrate laterally with respect to the local flow direction. We show that a loss of symmetry due to flow-induced surfactant redistribution leads to cross-stream drift of a spherical drop in Poiseuille flow. We derive analytical expressions for the migration velocity in the limit of small non-uniformities in the surfactant distribution, corresponding to weak-flow conditions or a high-viscosity drop. The analysis predicts that the direction of migration is always towards the flow centerline.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0905.2999,
  title  = {Surfactant-induced migration of a spherical drop in Stokes flow},
  author = {James A. Hanna and Petia M. Vlahovska},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0905.2999},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

Significant extension with additional text, figures, equations, etc