Prof. Raúl Bayoán Cal
Portland State, University
Thursday, Aug. 25th at 11am
Room 3350 MEK

ABSTRACT: Droplets interacting fiber arrays is ubiquitous in nature, textiles, microelectromechanical devices, and fog harvesting. We experimentally investigate the phenomena of droplet impact on an equidistant array of fibers. Drop tower tests are performed to characterize the droplet dynamics in the absence of the effects of gravity which could deform fibers and bias equilibrium configurations. Results show that contact line dissipation is largely responsible for arresting the droplet. Additionally, the penetration length is affected by fiber flexibility. A model is developed predicting the droplet penetration dynamics which shows good agreement with experiments. Further, we will demonstrate other problems and their curious behavior in near zero g.

BIO: Raúl Bayoán Cal is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Portland State University; a faculty member since 2010. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2006. During 2006 to 2009, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. His area of research is focused on understanding fluid flow phenomena as it relates to physical systems such as turbulence with emphasis placed on physics related of wall-bounded, free-shear and multi-phase flows as well as wind/solar energy, and capillary microfluidics with interests in both terrestrial and space applications.