Wetting morphology and capillary force of liquid bridges between parallel cylinders: An experimental and numerical study

Abstract Liquid bridging cylinders are ubiquitous in nature and industrial processes. The morphology and capillary force of these bridges between cylinders are influenced by several factors, including inter‐particle spacing, cylinder diameter, liquid volume and wettability. This study combines experimental and Surface Evolver (SE) simulations to systematically investigate the effects of these factors on bridge morphology and capillary force. The results indicate that capillary bridge force decreases as particle spacing increases. Conversely, increasing liquid volume enhances capillary bridge force and induces a reverse morphological transition. For cylinder diameters between 1 and 6 mm, the capillary force increases with increasing particle size. Based on experimental and numerical results, we propose a nonlinear regression model for accurate prediction of capillary force. It exhibits greater generality in predicting capillary bridge forces compared to the Princen model. These findings offer valuable theoretical insights for controlling liquid bridges in relevant engineering and industrial applications.