title: Droplet growth and transition to coalescence in confined geometries.
abstract: A thermodynamic theory is developed to predict growth, rearrangement to a close-packed ensemble, and transition to a deformed or coalesced state for droplets in a confined space. For the close-packed configuration, analysis of forced interactions between confined droplets yields analytical criteria for predicting whether droplets will deform and if they will coalesce. Relevant nondimensional parameters are identified to generalize results in terms of energy barrier maps, and their use for predicting interacting droplet behavior is described.
authors.affiliation: G. W. W. School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0405, USA.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kottke
authors.forename: Audric
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saillard
authors.forename: Andrei G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Fedorov
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D008628:Mercury / Q000737:chemistry; D008956:Models, Chemical; D012996:Solutions; D055672:Static Electricity; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions; D008628:Mercury