Capillary condensation of saturated vapor in a corner formed by two intersecting walls

Abstract

The dynamics of saturated vapor between two intersecting walls is examined. It is shown that, if the angle $\varphi$ between the walls is sufficiently small, the vapor becomes unstable, and spontaneous condensation occurs in the corner, similar to the so-called capillary condensation of vapor into a porous medium. As a result, an ever-growing liquid meniscus develops near the corner. The diffuse-interface model and the lubrication approximation are used to demonstrate that the meniscus grows if and only if $\varphi +2\theta <\pi$, where $\theta$ is the contact angle corresponding to the fluid/solid combination under consideration. This criterion has a simple physical explanation: if it holds, the meniscus surface is concave -- hence, the Kelvin effect causes condensation. Once the thickness of the condensate exceeds by an order of magnitude the characteristic interfacial thickness, the volume of the meniscus starts to grow linearly with time. If the near-vertex region of the corner is smoothed, the instability can be triggered off only by finite-size perturbations, such that include enough liquid to cover the smoothed aria by a microscopically-thin liquid film.

References in corpus (17)

• Disjoining Potential and Spreading of Thin Liquid Layers in the Diffuse Interface Model Coupled to Hydrodynamics
• Coarse-grained description of thermo-capillary flow
• Temperature dependence of bulk viscosity in water using acoustic spectroscopy
• Shock formation in the collapse of a vapor nano-bubble
• A comparison of slip, disjoining pressure, and interface formation models for contact line motion through asymptotic analysis of thin two-dimensional droplet spreading
• Decomposition driven interface evolution for layers of binary mixtures: I. Model derivation and stratified base states
• Thermally activated vapor bubble nucleation: the Landau-Lifshitz/Van der Waals approach
• Moving contact lines in a pure-vapor atmosphere: a singularity-free description in the sole framework of classical physics
• Two- and Three-Dimensional Simulations of Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities Using a Coupled Cahn-Hilliard / Navier-Stokes Model
• Decomposition driven interface evolution for layers of binary mixtures: {II}. Influence of convective transport on linear stability
• Can hydrodynamic contact line paradox be solved by evaporation--condensation?
• Dependence of the surface tension and contact angle on the temperature, as described by the diffuse-interface model
• Asymptotic reductions of the diffuse-interface model, with applications to contact lines in fluids
• The dynamics of liquid films, as described by the diffuse-interface model
• Dynamics of a drop floating in vapor of the same fluid
• Nonexistence of two-dimensional sessile drops in the diffuse-interface model
• Can a liquid drop on a substrate be in equilibrium with saturated vapor?

Cited by in corpus (3)

• The multicomponent diffuse-interface model and its application to water/air interfaces
• Dynamics of a drop floating in vapor of the same fluid
• Nonisothermal evaporation