Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mobility of free surface in different liquids and its influence on water striders locomotion

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Fluid Mechanics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Dynamics of the surface layer in different liquids is examined by means of infrared thermography of the surface and simultaneous velocity fields measurements using surface and infrared Particle Image Velocimetry. This technique allows measurements and comparison of two velocity fields—at the surface and at small depth about 50–200 μm. In distilled water the velocity fields at the surface and at small depth exhibit significant dissimilarity. The flow field below the surface is essentially 3D, whereas the surface flow is characterized by vanishing 2D divergence of velocity, indicating predominantly planar motion. In contrast, in ethanol–butanol mixture two velocity fields are well correlated, both corresponding to 3D flow with continuous surface renewal. Thermal patterns, observed at the surface, and the flow field structure in different liquids are associated with different boundary conditions for velocity at the surface. Water surface is seldom renewed, which inhibits heat and mass exchange between the liquid and atmosphere. However, absence of vertical advection also enables organisms to live within the surface layer, to stand and walk on the free surface. This is illustrated by the difficulties a water strider faces on the surface of ultrapure water, which exhibits Marangoni convection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bower SM, Saylor JR (2011) The effects of surfactant monolayers on free surface natural convection. Int J Heat Mass Transf 54:5348–5358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2011.08.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bush JWM, Hu DL (2006) Walking on water: biolocomotion at the interface. Annu Rev Fluid Mech 38:339–369. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.fluid.38.050304.092157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Charogiannis A, Zadrazil I, Markides CN (2016) Thermographic particle velocimetry (TPV) for simultaneous interfacial temperature and velocity measurements. Int J Heat Mass Transf 97:589–595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2016.02.050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chickadel CC, Talke SA, Horner-Devine AR, Jessup AT (2011) Infrared-based measurements of velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, and dissipation at the water surface in a tidal river. IEEE Geosci Remote Sens Lett 8:849–853. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2011.2125942

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Denny MW (2004) Paradox lost: answers and questions about walking on water. J Exp Biol 207:1601–1606. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Flack K, Saylor JR, Smith GB (2001) Near-surface turbulence for evaporative convection at an air/water interface. Phys Fluids 13:3338–3345. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1410126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Garbe CS, Spies H, Jaehne B (2003) Estimation of complex motion from thermographic image sequences. Proc SPIE 5073:303–317. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.501121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hale GM, Querry MR (1973) Optical constants of water in the 200-nm to 200-\(\mu\text{m }\) wavelength region. Appl Opt 12:555–563. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.12.000555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hu DL, Chan B, Bush JWM (2003) The hydrodynamics of water strider locomotion. Nature 424:663–666. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Jessup AT, Phadnis KR (2005) Measurement of the geometric and kinematic properties of microscale breaking waves from infrared imagery using a PIV algorithm. Meas Sci Technol 16:1961–1969. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/16/10/011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. McKenna SP, McGillis WR (2004) The role of free-surface turbulence and surfactants in air–water gas transfer. Int J Heat Mass Transf 47:539–553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2003.06.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ozcan O, Wang H, Taylor JD, Sitti M (2014) STRIDE II: a water strider-inspired miniature robot with circular footpads. Int J Adv Robot Syst 11:85. https://doi.org/10.5772/58701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Plaksina YY, Uvarov AV, Vinnichenko NA, Lapshin VB (2012) Experimental investigation of near-surface small-scale structures at water–air interface: background oriented Schlieren and thermal imaging of water surface. Russ J Earth Sci 12:ES4002. https://doi.org/10.2205/2012ES000517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Sani E, Dell’Oro A (2016) Spectral optical constants of ethanol and isopropanol from ultraviolet to far infrared. Opt Mater 60:137–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optmat.2016.06.041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Saylor JR, Smith GB, Flack KA (2001) An experimental investigation of the surface temperature field during evaporative convection. Phys Fluids 13:428–439. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1337064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Scarano F, Riethmuller ML (1999) Iterative multigrid approach in PIV image processing with discrete window offset. Exp Fluids 26:513–523. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003480050318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Sefiane K, Ward CA (2007) Recent advances on thermocapillary flows and interfacial conditions during the evaporation of liquids. Adv Colloid Interface Sci 134–135:201–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2007.04.020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Suter RB, Wildman H (1999) Locomotion on the water surface: hydrodynamic constraints on rowing velocity require a gait change. J Exp Biol 202:2771–2785

    Google Scholar 

  19. Suter RB, Rosenberg O, Loeb S, Wildman H, Long JH (1997) Locomotion on the water surface: propulsive mechanisms of the fisher spider Dolomedes triton. J Exp Biol 200:2523–2538

    Google Scholar 

  20. Turney DE, Banerjee S (2013) Air–water gas transfer and near-surface motions. J Fluid Mech 733:588–624. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2013.435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Turney DE, Anderer A, Banerjee S (2009) A method for three-dimensional interfacial particle image velocimetry (3D-IPIV) of an air–water interface. Meas Sci Technol 20:045403. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/20/4/045403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Veron F, Melville WK, Lenain L (2008) Infrared techniques for measuring ocean surface processes. J Atmos Ocean Technol 25:307–326. https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JTECHO524.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Vinnichenko NA, Uvarov AV, Plaksina YY (2014) Combined study of heat exchange near the liquid–gas interface by means of background oriented Schlieren and infrared thermal imaging. Exp Therm Fluid Sci 59:238–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.11.023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Volino RJ, Smith GB (1999) Use of simultaneous IR temperature measurements and DPIV to investigate thermal plumes in a thick layer cooled from above. Exp Fluids 27:70–78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003480050330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Yan JH, Zhang XB, Zhao J, Liu GF, Cai HG, Pan QM (2015) A miniature surface tension-driven robot using spatially elliptical moving legs to mimic a water strider’s locomotion. Bioinspir Biomim 10:046016. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/10/4/046016

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research under Grant 15-08-03049. Authors also acknowledge support from M. V. Lomonosov State University Program of Development.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskiye Gory 1/2, Moscow, Russia, 119991

    Nikolay A. Vinnichenko, Yulia Yu. Plaksina, Ksenia M. Baranova, Alexey V. Pushtaev & Alexander V. Uvarov

Authors
  1. Nikolay A. Vinnichenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yulia Yu. Plaksina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ksenia M. Baranova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alexey V. Pushtaev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Alexander V. Uvarov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nikolay A. Vinnichenko.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10652_2018_9577_MOESM1_ESM.avi

Movie 1 (file ESM1.avi) IR imaging of water strider on the surface of distilled water in elliptical container (major axis 18.5 cm, minor axis 12 cm). Average surface temperature is about 31.5 °C. To reduce the file size, movie is subsampled for frame rate 5 fps. (avi 24871 KB)

10652_2018_9577_MOESM2_ESM.avi

Movie 2 (file ESM2.avi) IR imaging of water strider on the surface of ultrapure water in Petri dish (diameter 8.5 cm). Average surface temperature is about 31.5 °C. To reduce the file size, movie is subsampled for frame rate 5 fps. (avi 17148 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vinnichenko, N.A., Plaksina, Y.Y., Baranova, K.M. et al. Mobility of free surface in different liquids and its influence on water striders locomotion. Environ Fluid Mech 18, 1045–1056 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-018-9577-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-018-9577-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation