An External Meniscus on a Thin Fiber Whose Profile Has Separate Rectification Points

Abstract

© 2020, Allerton Press, Inc. We clarify the limits of applicability of the previously developed asymptotic method for defining the configuration of an external meniscus of a liquid on a thin fiber. As was found out earlier, if the fiber material is fully wet, while the fiber profile has rectilinear parts, then the mentioned method gives unsatisfactory results when being applied near the fiber, because it leads to the infinite growth of the contact line. We prove that in the case when a smooth convex fiber profile contains only separate rectification points, the asymptotic approach predicts the meniscus shape, as a whole, satisfactory. However, it inadequately describes the behavior of the contact line near rectification points of the profile, namely, it gives a line with breaks instead of an expected smooth one.