Research Colloquium — Wednesday, October 29, 2008

"Dynamics of electrically charged droplets"

Santiago Betelu
Department of Mathematics
University of North Texas



We study the evolution of droplets of a newtonian fluid with an electrical charge Q. The flow is driven by capillarity and electrostatic repulsion. Two situations are considered: a) conducting droplet suspended in a dielectric fluid and b) conducting droplet spreading on a dielectric surface. In both cases the total charge and the volume are conserved. In a) we use boundary elements methods and we find that the droplet develops cone-like singularities in finite time, and that the solution is locally selfsimilar in the neighborhood of the tips. In b) we build selfsimilar solutions by using the lubrication theory. Surprisingly these solutions are not unique and and the power law of the rate of spreading is the same as for a discharged drop, buy with a different proportionality factor.



Room: 126 Clements Hall
Coffee: 3:15 pm – 3:30 pm
Colloquium: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm