Use of levitating liquid micro-droplets as tracers to study the evaporation in the vicinity of the contact line

Abstract

Self-organization of a cloud of liquid micro-droplets into an ordered two-dimensional array, levitating over a heated layer of liquid due to upward vapor flow, has been observed in several recent experimental works. In the present paper, the levitating micro-droplet array is studied under the condition when the liquid layer ruptures and a dry spot form on the heater. It has been found, that when the levitating micro-droplets are moving from wetted heater area to dry heater area and passing over the contact line, the micro-droplets levitation height is drastically increased, which is indicative of the intensive evaporation occurring in the region of the contact line.