Drops in an electric field: instabilities, bifurcations and singularities

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• Marco Fontelos, ICMAT, Spain
• Thursday 03 December 2015, 11:30-12:30
• Open Plan Area, BP Institute, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Catherine Pearson.

The influence of electric fields on the shape and evolution of drops is an important problem in the context of technological applications such as electrowetting. The term electrowetting is commonly used for some techniques to change the shape and wetting behaviour of liquid droplets by the application of electric fields and charges. First, we describe the presence of symmetry breaking bifurcations and their physical role in the development of instabilities. We also discuss the possible formation of singularities at the liquid surface. We then develop and analyze a model for electrowetting that combines the Navier-Stokes system for fluid flow, a phase-field model of Cahn-Hilliard type for the movement of the interface, a charge transport equation, and the potential equation of electrostatics. A critical role in the deduction of suitable couplings between phase field and other physical fields is played by ariational principles involving suitable energies

This talk is part of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (IEEF) series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Cambridge Energy Seminars
• Department of Earth Sciences seminars
• Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (IEEF)
• NanoDTC Energy Materials Talks
• Open Plan Area, BP Institute, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ
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