Micrometer-sized particles in a two-dimensional self-assembly during drying of liquid film.

We computed the self-organization process of a monodisperse collection of spherical micrometer-sized particles trapped in a two-dimensional thin liquid film isothermally dried on a chemically inert substrate. The substrate is either flat or indented to create linear stripes on its surface. The numerical results are illustrated and discussed in the light of experimental ones obtained from the drying of a water-based suspension of diamond particles (d{50}=10 microm) on a glass substrate.

Constant rate shearing on two-dimensional cohesive discs.

We performed two-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of cohesive discs under shear. The cohesion between the discs is added by the action of springs between very next neighbouring discs, modelling capillary forces. The geometry of the cell allows disc-disc shearing and not disc-cell wall shearing as is commonly found in the literature.