It is shown that a fluid near a topographically patterned wall exhibits crystallization below the bulk freezing point (so-called precrystallization). In detail, a periodic array of fixed hard spheres is considered as a wall pattern. The actual type of the pattern corresponds to a face-centred-cubic (fcc) lattice cut along the (111), (100) or (110) orientation, a hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) sol...

A droplet deposited on a rough, lyophilic surface satisfying the imbibition condition, results in spontaneous spreading and hence complete wetting. However, in this thesis, we demonstrate that this wetting behavior can be altered by superheating the substrate such that droplets can reside in a non-wetting state due to evaporation. Photolithography and deep reactive ion etching were used to fabr...

Internal pipeline corrosion in oil production and transportation is always associated with the presence of water, and the likelihood of corrosion generally increases with the volume fraction of water. When the walls of the pipeline are wetted with oil no corrosion is possible. Highly turbulent flow was associated with negligible corrosion due to water entrainment by the flowing oil, whereas low...

We study the pattern formation of a chiral nematic liquid crystal under a wetting transition. In the isotropic-liquid crystal transition, a surface-enhanced effect happens and a thin liquid crystal layer forms at the substrates of the cell. In this confined system, chirality, elastic anisotropy, surface anchoring, and wetting strength interplay. A striped pattern is formed due to the chiral nat...

The transition between the Cassie and Wenzel wetting regimes has been observed under vertical vibration of a water drop placed on a rough micrometrically scaled polymer pattern. The transition takes place under the constant force per unit length of the triple contact line, not under constant pressure. A study of the vibrating drop deposited on the rough surface supplied valuable information con...

We study the forced displacement of a thin film of fluid in contact with vertical and inclined substrates of different wetting properties, that range from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, using the lattice-Boltzmann method. We study the stability and pattern formation of the contact line in the hydrophilic and superhydrophobic regimes, which correspond to wedge-shaped and nose-shaped fronts, respect...