A fundamental question in the physics of droplet–fiber interactions is: What is the maximum droplet volume a fiber can retain? While this problem has been studied for horizontal fibers and at the apex $\mathrm{\Lambda }$-shaped bent fibers, it remains less explored for V-shaped bent fibers, despite their demonstrated advantages in engineering applications such as fog harvesting. This work investigates the capability of V-shaped fibers with opening angle $\alpha$ in retaining droplets against gravity. An analytical model to predict the maximum droplet volume on V-shaped fibers is developed based on free energy analysis, and validated against experimental data from five liquid–fiber pairs. We found that the dependence of the maximum droplet volume on $\alpha$ can be reasonably captured by the function $cos\beta /cos(\beta -\alpha /2)$, where $\beta$ denotes the droplet's off-axis angle. As $\alpha$ increases from $0^{\circ }$ to ${180}^{\circ }$, the maximum droplet volume slightly decreases before entering a broad transition region around $\alpha \approx {40}^{\circ }\text{–}{100}^{\circ }$, and then increases at larger $\alpha$. In this transition region, droplets detachment is facilitated, resulting in reduced liquid hold-up and clogging, which are critical to the performance of condensers and fog-harvesting systems.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Adhesion
• Drop & bubble phenomena
• Wetting