Eur. Phys. J. E (2015) 38: 131
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2015-15131-3

Regular Article

Droplets climbing a rotating helical fiber

GRASP, Physics Dept., University of Liège, B4000, Liège, Belgium

^* e-mail: baptiste.darboistexier@gmail.com
^** e-mail: S.Dorbolo@ulg.ac.be

Received: 19 August 2015
Accepted: 1 December 2015
Published online: 23 December 2015

Abstract

A liquid droplet is placed on a rotating helical fiber. We find that the droplet may slide down, attach or climb up the fiber. We inspect experimentally the domain of existence of these three behaviors as a function of the geometrical characteristics of the fiber, its angle relatively to the horizontal, the wetting properties of the fluid and the rotating speed of the helix. A theoretical model is proposed in order to capture the boundaries of the experimental phase diagram.