Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation
Surface-piercing vegetation often captures particles that flow on the water surface, where surface tension forces contribute to capture. Yet the physics of capillary capture in flow has not been addressed. Here we model the capture of floating particles by surface-piercing collectors at moderately l...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84974 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3199-0508 |
| _version_ | 1826196259642277888 |
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| author | Peruzzo, Paolo Defina, Andrea Stocker, Roman Nepf, Heidi |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Peruzzo, Paolo Defina, Andrea Stocker, Roman Nepf, Heidi |
| author_sort | Peruzzo, Paolo |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Surface-piercing vegetation often captures particles that flow on the water surface, where surface tension forces contribute to capture. Yet the physics of capillary capture in flow has not been addressed. Here we model the capture of floating particles by surface-piercing collectors at moderately low Reynolds numbers (Re < 10). We find a trade-off between the capillary force, which increases with the collector diameter, and the relative size of the meniscus, which decreases with the collector diameter, resulting in an optimal collector diameter of ~1 − 10 mm that corresponds to the regime in which many aquatic plant species operate. For this diameter range the angular distribution of capture events is nearly uniform and capture can be orders of magnitude more efficient than direct interception, showing that capillary forces can be major contributors to the capture of seeds and particulate matter by organisms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:24:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/84974 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:24:06Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/849742022-09-30T20:50:09Z Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation Peruzzo, Paolo Defina, Andrea Stocker, Roman Nepf, Heidi Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Nepf, Heidi Stocker, Roman Surface-piercing vegetation often captures particles that flow on the water surface, where surface tension forces contribute to capture. Yet the physics of capillary capture in flow has not been addressed. Here we model the capture of floating particles by surface-piercing collectors at moderately low Reynolds numbers (Re < 10). We find a trade-off between the capillary force, which increases with the collector diameter, and the relative size of the meniscus, which decreases with the collector diameter, resulting in an optimal collector diameter of ~1 − 10 mm that corresponds to the regime in which many aquatic plant species operate. For this diameter range the angular distribution of capture events is nearly uniform and capture can be orders of magnitude more efficient than direct interception, showing that capillary forces can be major contributors to the capture of seeds and particulate matter by organisms. 2014-02-18T15:29:00Z 2014-02-18T15:29:00Z 2013-10 2013-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0031-9007 1079-7114 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84974 Peruzzo, Paolo, Andrea Defina, Heidi M. Nepf, and Roman Stocker. “Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation.” Physical Review Letters 111, no. 16 (October 2013). © 2013 American Physical Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3199-0508 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.164501 Physical Review Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society American Physical Society |
| spellingShingle | Peruzzo, Paolo Defina, Andrea Stocker, Roman Nepf, Heidi Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation |
| title | Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation |
| title_full | Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation |
| title_fullStr | Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation |
| title_short | Capillary Interception of Floating Particles by Surface-Piercing Vegetation |
| title_sort | capillary interception of floating particles by surface piercing vegetation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84974 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3199-0508 |
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