Journal article
A non-gradient based algorithm for the determination of surface tension from a pendant drop: Application to low Bond number drop shapes
Journal of colloid and interface science, v 333(2), pp 557-562
15 May 2009
PMID: 19261289
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The pendant drop method is one of the most widely used techniques to measure the surface tension between gas-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces. The method consists of fitting the Young-Laplace equation to the digitized shape of a drop suspended from the end of a capillary tube. The first use of digital computers to solve this problem utilized nonlinear least squares fitting and since then numerous subroutines and algorithms have been reported for improving efficiency and accuracy. However, Current algorithms which rely on gradient based methods have difficulty converging for almost spherical drop shapes (i.e. low Bond numbers). We present a non-gradient based algorithm based on the Nelder-Mead simplex method to solve the least squares problem. The main advantage of using a non-gradient based fitting routine is that it is robust against poor initial guesses and works for almost spherical bubble shapes. We have tested the algorithm against theoretical and experimental drop shapes to demonstrate both the efficiency and the accuracy of the fitting routine for a wide range of Bond numbers. Our study shows that this algorithm allows for Surface tension measurements corresponding to Bond numbers previously shown to be ill suited for pendant drop measurements. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Details
- Title
- A non-gradient based algorithm for the determination of surface tension from a pendant drop: Application to low Bond number drop shapes
- Creators
- Nicolas J. Alvarez - Carnegie Mellon UniversityLynn M. Walker - Carnegie Mellon UniversityShelley L. Anna - Carnegie Mellon University
- Publication Details
- Journal of colloid and interface science, v 333(2), pp 557-562
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 6
- Grant note
- CBET-0730727 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000265121500017
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-63249132532
- Other Identifier
- 991019292226304721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Physical