Hydrodynamic attraction of immobile particles due to interfacial forces

Julien Morthomas (1) , Alois Würger (1)

1 CPMOH - Centre de physique moléculaire optique et hertzienne

Applying the method of reflections, we derive the flow pattern around a confined colloidal particle with quasislip conditions at its surface, in powers of the ratio a/h of particle radius and wall distance. The lowest order corresponds to a single reflection at the confining wall. Significant corrections occur at higher order: the linear term in a/h modifies the amplitudes of the well-known one-reflection approximation, whereas new features arise in quadratic order. Our results agree with recent experiments where thermo-osmosis drives hydrodynamic attractive forces in confined colloids.

Mots clés: Soft matter; Non-equilibrium systems; Transport; Colloids; Thermophoresis; Thermal diffusion; Temperature gradient; Soret effect

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Julien Morthomas, Alois Würger. Hydrodynamic attraction of immobile particles due to interfacial forces. Physical Review E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 2010, 81, pp.051405. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.81.051405⟩. ⟨hal-00486901⟩