Abstract : Placed on a hot surface, a solid that sublimates at atmospheric pressure can levitate on a cushion of its own vapor. Discovered by Leidenfrost, this effect has mostly been studied with liquids. Whereas the shape of a droplet is determined by a competition between gravity, surface tension, and stress in the vapor layer, a solid does not deform. In this paper, we show experimentally and theoretically that asymmetric mass distributions in a Leidenfrost solid can lead to a non homogenous vapor layer in which the lubrication flow generates a lateral force able to propel the body. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.
https://hal-polytechnique.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00996482
Contributor : Denis Roura
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Submitted on : Monday, June 2, 2014 - 8:55:10 PM
Last modification on : Thursday, July 4, 2019 - 11:00:05 AM
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Guillaume Dupeux, Tobias Baier, Vincent Bacot, Steffen Hardt, Christophe Clanet, et al.. Self-propelling uneven Leidenfrost solids. Physics of Fluids, American Institute of Physics, 2013, 25 (5), pp.051704. ⟨10.1063/1.4807007⟩. ⟨hal-00996482⟩
