On the dynamics of a liquid bridge between a sphere and a vertically vibrated solid surface

This work presents an experimental study of the response of a liquid bridge formed between a sphere and a plane solid surface subjected to a vertical sinusoidal vibration. The amplitude and frequency of the oscillations can be varied. The successive movement of the particle along with the bridge deformation is registered to follow the dynamics of the system. The motivation is to figure out how capillary and viscosity forces can be modeled with the help of the experimental data obtained and to settle down a simplified theoretical approach capable of being implemented in the description of many phenomena involving wet granular grains. The results indicate that the viscosity effects can be neglected as soon as the amplitude of the movement is not too small, still obtaining a reasonable description of the dynamical behavior of the sphere/liquid-bridge system.

Graphical abstract