Elasticdeformationduetotangentialcapillaryforces.PDFVIP

PHYSICS OF FLUIDS 23, 072006 (2011) Elastic deformation due to tangential capillary forces Siddhartha Das,1 Antonin Marchand,2 Bruno Andreotti,2 and Jacco H. Snoeijer1 1 Physics of Fluids Group and J. M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands 2Physique et Me´canique des Milieux He´te´roge`nes, UMR 7636 ESPCI—CNRS, Univ. Paris-Diderot, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris (Received 16 March 2011; accepted 30 June 2011; published online 27 July 2011) A sessile liquid drop can deform the substrate on which it rests if the solid is sufficiently “soft.” In this paper we compute the detailed spatial structure of the capillary forces exerted by the drop on the solid substrate using a model based on Density Functional Theory. We show that, in addition to the normal forces, the drop exerts a previously unaccounted tangential force. The resultant effect on the solid is a pulling force near the contact line directed towards the interior of the drop, i.e., not along the interface. The resulting elastic deformations of the solid are worked out and illustrate the C importance of the tangential forces. V 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3615640] I. INTRODUCTION tive to consider the characteristic length scale ‘ ¼ c/E, from the ratio of surface tension and the elastic modulus, which A drop of liquid can adhere to a solid surface due to mo-