Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes

Current Research Area:

Hydrodynamics, Interfaces, Wetting and Non-Wetting. Non-linear Physics, Instabilities, Pattern and Singularity Formation. Capillary Phenomena in Soft Matter.

Biography

 1979-1984: Student in Ecole Normale Supérieure, Physics, 45 rue d’Ulm, Paris, France.
 1981-1984: Thesis in Laboratoire d’Hydrodynamique et de Mécanique Physique (HMP) of Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI). Experimental study of turbulent diffusion by forced Rayleigh scattering of light.
 1984: Professeur Agrégé de Physique, Option Sciences Physiques.
 1984-1990: Assistant Professor in ESPCI. Teaching Hydrodynamics and Strength of Materials. Research on Elastic Properties of fractals and tenuous media.
 1989-1990: Visitor in Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique of ESPCI. Modeling chevron and zig-zag instability in liquid crystals and free surface instabilities in fluids.
 1990-2000: Chargé de Recherches au CNRS (CNRS Permanent Researcher), in Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (PMMH) of ESPCI. Research on free surface flows and wetting dynamics.
 1998: Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (University Paris Diderot, defended on 3 juin 1998). On several problems of Hydrodynamics and Mechanics of Disordered Media (Elasticity of a fractal object, Instabilities of smectic liquid crystals, Problems of interface dynamics in fluids).
 2001-2007: Directeur de Recherches CNRS, in Lab PMMH of ESPCI.
 2008-2014: Directeur de Recherches CNRS, in Lab MSC of Paris Diderot University.

Academic and industrial collaborations

St Gobain Aubervilliers Research Centre (France), University of Bristol UK (J. Eggers), Twente University NL (J. Snoeijer), University of California Los Angeles U.C.L.A (P. Kavehpour), ESPCI-Paris (F. Lequeux), Université de Lyon (C. Pirat), Princeton University (H.-A. Stone), Penn State University USA (A. Belmonte), Université de Nice (J. Rajchenbach), Orsay University (C.-T. Pham, F. Giorgiutti, L. Pauchard), MSC (P. Brunet, Y. Couder, A. Daerr, L. Lebon, L. Royon...).

Recent Grants, Awards, Memberships, Scientific Responsibilities, Aux Armes etc...

 2005-2014: Contracts with Saint-Gobain Recherche (Aubervilliers) around free surface flow problems (with L. Lebon and M. Receveur).
 2005-2008 : research Support from ANR (National research Agency) around problems of deposition and drying of complex fluids on a solid (DEPSEC), A. Daerr, G. Berteloot, C.-T. Pham, C. Allain and B. Guerrier (FAST), F. Lequeux (PhysicoChemistry of Polymers and Dispersed media, ESPCI). Local Coordinator in MSC lab.
 2011-2014: research Support from ANR (National research Agency) around problems of non-wetting (FREEFLOW), with Y. Couder, L. Lebon, C. Pirat (Lyon), C. Clanet (Polytechnique) and D. Quéré (ESPCI). Principal Coordinator.
 2007: Chairman of the 7th European Coating Symposium (ECS2007, 12-14 September 2007), organised with B. Andreotti, A. Daerr , M. Fermigier, L. Lebon and D. Quéré, on the new campus of University Paris Diderot (150 attendees). http://www.pmmh.espci.fr/~ecs2007/. Member of European Coating Symposium Committee, since this date.
 2010: co-organizer of a Workshop in Leiden, Lorentz Centre, "Capillary shaping of solutes", with T. Witten and V. Vittelli, May 2010. http://www.lorentzcenter.nl/lc/web/...
 Member of the Société Française de Physique and of the American Physical Society (Fluid Dynamics Division).
 1999: Langlois prize for Diffusion of Scientific Research (ESPCI).
 2001: Langlois prize for Scientific Research (with T. Podgorski, J.-M. Flesselles and A. Daerr).
 Animation of the team "capillary flows" with A. Daerr and L. Lebon http://www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.f..., Former representative of DSHE group in MSC lab (2007-2014), former Member of MSC lab council (2007-2014), Member of the LIED council (Interdisciplinary Lab. for Energies of the Future).
 Advisor of 11 PHD theses or equivalents and of 3 postdocs, since 1992.

Recent Works and Related Publications:

3D contact lines:

Most often, studies on contact lines are investigating simple geometries, with straight contact lines or axisymmetric interfaces. With my colleagues and students (Podgorski, Flesselles, Daerr, Snoeijer, Le Grand, Rio, Lebon, Sébilleau, Eggers, Stone, etc...), we have investigated more complex situations: inclined lines at the rear of sliding drops (see picture, from T. Podgorski), strongly curved lines, moderately curved lines with an external flow, meandering of rivulets, etc... Some of these works dispaly interesting issues on singularity formation at free surfaces (see especially Podgorski, Le Grand or Peters), while others are important for technical applications (dry patch in heat exchangers, coating problems, assisted lithography technics, etc...).

Straight contact lines on soft solids and broken contact lines on hard substrates, Limat L., Proc. ECS2013, September 2013 (2013) 57–59, edited by J. de Coninck, UMONS press, ISBN 978-2-87325-077-5

Receding contact lines: from sliding drops to immersion lithography, Winkels K. G., Peters I. R., Evangelista F., Riepen M., Daerr A., Limat L., Snoeijer J. H., Eur. J. Phys. Special Topics 192 (2011) 195–205

A general mechanism for the meandering of rivulets, Daerr A., Eggers J., Limat L., Valade N. , Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 (2011) 184501

Simple views on cornered contact lines near instability, Snoeijer, J.H., Peters, I., Limat, L. & Daerr, A., in Proceedings of the 23rd Canadian Congress of Applied Mechanics, Vancouver (2011), p. 172.

Coexistence of Two Singularities in Dewetting Flows: Regularizing the Corner Tip, Peters I., Snoeijer jacco H., Daerr A., Limat L., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 (2009) 114501; republished on line by the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, 21 september 2009.

Stability of a dry patch in a viscous flowing film, Sebilleau J., Lebon L., Limat L., Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 166 (2009) 139-142

Cornered drops and rivulets, Snoeijer J., Le grand-Piteira N., Limat L., Stone h. A., Eggers J., Physics of Fluids 19 (2007) 042104

Meandering rivulets on a plane: a simple balance between inertia and capillarity, Le grand N., Daerr A., Limat L., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 254503

Wetting hysteresis of a dry patch left inside a flowing film, E. Rio , L. Limat, Physics of Fluids 18 (2006) 032102.

Boundary Conditions in the Vicinity of a Dynamic Contact Line: Experimental Investigation of Viscous Drops Sliding Down an Inclined Plane, Rio E., Daerr A., Andreotti B., Limat L., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 024503

Self-similar flow and contact line geometry at the rear of cornered drops, Snoeijer J., Rio E., Le grand N., Limat L., Physics of Fluids 17 (2005) 072101-072122

Shape and motion of drops sliding down an inclined plane, Le grand N., Daerr A., Limat L. , Journal of Fluid Mechanics 541 (2005) 293-315

Contact Lines and Soft Matter:

Another source of complexity in contact line behaviors is the nature of the substrate or of the fluid used. We have investigated contact lines on deformable materials (liquids and gels, essentially), contact lines with evaporation, contact lines with particle deposition... (work with Daerr, Pham, Kajiya, Lequeux, Rio, Berteloot, Lebon, Sébilleau...). There are numerous potential applications of this domain: soft contact lenses, culture susbtrates in biology, coating of surfaces with nano particles, drying problems in coating processes, etc... The perhaps most surprising result is the occurence of stick-slip in contact line motion on viscoelastic gels (see Kajiya et al, 2013, and the pictures on the right, from B. Saint-Michel of the successive traces left on a gel by an inflating water drop), that seem to be mainly related to the geometry of the distorted substrate surface coupled with the rehology, rather than to chemical heterogeneities of the surface...

Contact lines on soft solids with uniform surface tension: analytical solutions and double transition for increasing deformability, Dervaux J., Limat L., subm. to Proc. Roy. Soc. A (2014).

A liquid contact line receding on a soft gel surface: dip-coating geometry investigation, Kajiya T. , Brunet P., Royon L., Daerr A., Receveur M. and Limat L., Soft Matter 10(2014) 8888-8895. DOI: 10.1039/c4sm01609b .

Dynamics of a Complete Wetting Liquid Under Evaporation, Pham, C.-T., Lequeux, F., Limat, L. in "Without Bounds: A Scientific Canvas of Nonlinearity and Complex Dynamics, Understanding Complex Systems", edited by Ramon G Rubio et al, ISBN 978-3-642-34069-7. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, p. 275 (2013).

Dynamics of liquid contact lines on disco-elastic gels, Kajiya T., Gorlier F., Royon L., Daerr A., Brunet P., Lequeux F., Limat L., Proc. ECS2013, September 2013 (2013) 54–56, edited by J. de Coninck, UMONS press, ISBN 978-2-87325-077-5

Advancing liquid contact line on visco-elastic gel substrates: stick-slip vs. continuous motions, Kajiya T., Daerr A., Narita T., Royon L., Lequeux F., Limat L., Soft Matter 9 (2013) 454-461

Dip coating with colloids and evaporation, Berteloot, G., Daerr, A., Lequeux, F. & Limat, L., in Advances in Coating and Drying of Thin Films, Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification, 68 (2013) 69–73

Straight Contact Lines on a Soft, Incompressible, Solid, Limat L. EPJ-E Soft Matter 35 (2012) 134

Evaporation of a sessile droplet : inside the coffee stain, Berteloot G., Hoang A., Daerr, Kavehpour H. P., Lequeux F, Limat L., J. Coll. Interface Sc. 370 (2012) 155–161

Dynamics of the Contact Line in Wetting and Diffusing Processes of Water Droplets on Hydrogel (PAAM-PAMPS) Substrates, Kajiya T., Daerr A., Narita T., Royon L., Lequeux F., Limat L., Soft Matter 7 (2011) 11425-11432

Dynamics of complete wetting liquid under evaporation, Pham C.-T. , Berteloot G., Lequeux F., Limat L., Europhysics Letters 93 (2010) 69901

The dynamics and shapes of a viscous sheet spreading on a moving liquid bath, Sebilleau J., Lebon L., Limat L., Quartier L. and Receveur M., EuroPhysics Lett. 92 (2010) 14003

Spreading of liquid drops on Agar gels, Banaha M., Daerr A., Limat L., Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 166 (2009) 185-188

Evaporation-induced flow near a contact line: Consequences on coating and contact angle, Berteloot G., Pham C.-t., Daerr A., Lequeux F., Limat L., Europhysics Letters 83 (2008) 14003

Moving contact line of colloidal suspension in the presence of drying, Rio E., Daerr A., Lequeux F., Limat L., Langmuir 22 (2006) 3186

Non-wetting problems, impacts, liquid columns and liquid sheets:

A fascinating class of problems occur when one considers motion of liquids with (nearly) no contact on a solid, and in particular no contact lines. The reduction of friction is such that the dynamics is completely different. We have investigated two problems of this kind: gyroscopic motion of a drop rotating inside a circular hydraulic jump (with Duchesne, Lebon, Pirat, Savaro, Fruleux, Roche, see picture on the right from A. Duchesne), and (with Couder, Perrard, Fort) the behaviour of a liquid torus levitating on a very hot substrate. The first problem reveals surprising inversion dynamics of the drop motion, reminiscent of more famous ones in geophysics, while the second displays a fascinating facetting instability analogous to the one observed by others on circular hydraulic jumps. This second geometry allows one to investigate surface waves propagation and vortex instabilities in a perfect situation of no contact. The first problem has also driven us to investigate more carefully the mechanisms leading to jump formation in jet impact (se Duchesne et al, 2013), in which we have indentified some critical Froude number selection mechanism that seems to change a lot the jump radius selection rules. In this section, I have also added less recent works on liquid columns and liquid sheets (with Brunet, Flesselles, Roche, Lebon, Le Grand, Lhuissier), that are also, in some sense, examples of liquids flowing under reduced friction conditions.

Viscoelasticity breaks the symmetry of impacting jets, H. Lhuissier, B. Néel and L. Limat, Physical Review Letters 113 (2014) 194502

Constant Froude number in a circular hydraulic jump and its implication on the jump radius selection, A. Duchesne, L. Lebon and L. Limat, Europhysics Letters 107 (2014) 54002

Multiple rotations of a drop rolling inside a horizontal circular hydraulic jump, Duchesne A., Savaro C., Lebon L., Pirat C., Limat L. Europhysics Letters 102 (2013) 64001

Jet impact on an inclined plane: contact line versus hydraulic jump, Duchesne A., Lebon L., Limat L., Proc. ECS2013, September 2013 (2013) 48–50, edited by J. de Coninck, UMONS press, ISBN 978-2-87325-077-5

Leidenfrost levitated liquid tori, Perrard S., Couder Y., Fort E., and Limat L., EPL (Europhysics Letters), 100 (2012), 54006, doi:10.1209/0295-5075/100/54006

Gyroscopic instability of a drop trapped inside an inclined circular hydraulic jump, Pirat C, Lebon L, Fruleux A, Roche J.-S., Limat L., Phys Rev Lett. 20 (2010), 105(8):084503

Dynamics of a circular array of liquid columns, Brunet P., Flesselles J.-M., Limat L. , Eur. Phys. J. B 55 (2007) 297

Perturbations on a liquid curtain near break-up: wakes and free-edges, Roche J.-S., Le grand N., Brunet P., Lebon L., Limat L., Physics of Fluids 18 (2006) 082101

Propagating waves pattern in a falling liquid curtain, Le grand N., Brunet P., Lebon L., Limat L., Phys. Rev. E 74 (2006) 026305

Vorticity and vortex dynamics:

Dynamics of vorticity, dynamics and stability of vortices is certainly one of the most fascinating field of hydrodynamics, with remarkable self organization and collective phenomena. I have been interested in several problems belonging to this general area: the first one is the stability of a toroidal vortex in presence of a free surface (see the paper with Perrard and Couder in the previous section), and the second is the stability of Bénard Von-Karman raws interacting with walls and turbulence (see picture above). I mention also here a work with Sébilleau and Eggers on the equivalent of flow detachment of a boundary layer, but for a liquid curved free surface. This problem involves processes of vorticity generation at free surfaces, and is important for several situations in chemical engineering and geophysics: instabilities of bubble trajectories in a liquid, effect of the wind on surface waves, etc...

Boniface et al 2014. Absolute stability...

Absolute stability of a confined Bénard Von Karman double row, P. Boniface, L. Lebon, M. Receveur and L. Limat (2014), submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.

Flow separation from a stationary meniscus, Sebilleau J., Limat L., Eggers J., Journal of Fluid Mechanics 633 (2009) 137-145

Stabilité absolue d’une allée de Bénard-Von karman confinée, engendrée par deux instabilités couplées de Kelvin-Helmholtz, P. Boniface, L. Lebon, F. Bouillet, M. Receveur, L. Limat, Comptes Rendus de la 17ème Rencontre du Non-Linéaire, édités par E. Falcon, M. Lefranc, F. Pétrélis, C.-T. Pham, 11-16 (2014), Non-Linéaire Publications, Saint-Etienne de Rouvray ISBN 978-2-9538596-3-8.

Réarrangement polygonal d’un vortex -a surface libre, M. Labousse, S. Perrard, J.W.M. Bush, L. Limat, Comptes Rendus de la 17ème Rencontre du Non-Linéaire, édités par E. Falcon, M. Lefranc, F. Pétrélis, C.-T. Pham, 11-16 (2014), Non-Linéaire Publications, Saint-Etienne de Rouvray ISBN 978-2-9538596-3-8.