UPDATE APRIL, 12th 2023: We are looking for a PhD student to work with us (me and Jean-Lou Pierson from IFP Énergies Nouvelles near Lyon) on the modelling of thin liquid films decorated with surfactants, such as the ones found for example in emulsions or foams. Fully funded PhD. Contact us for more information. Deadline for application : May 1st.

My research is conducted at Institut ∂'Alembert -- a bubbling lab where researchers of different backgrounds (applied mathematicians, soft condensed matter physicists, numericists...) interact on all the facets of physics at the human scale.

Research

My research explores various aspects of hydrodynamics and related areas (soft matter physics, industrial or geophysical settings), using usually a combination of lightweight experiments and modelling. In what follows I highlight several active research themes.

Hydrothermal Chimneys

Hydrothermal chimneys are spectacular edifices several tens of meters tall found in the bottom of the oceans. Harbouring a profusion of living organisms that form a most ancient ecosystem, chimneys have rightfully stirred the interest of the geophysics community for their role in the emergence of life. Still, the mechanisms of formation of these vents remain unclear to date. Here we explore how fluid flows from the inner crust may sculpt the chimney when contacting seawater and precipitating chemical elements. This is an exciting multidisciplinary venture with geophysicists and geobiologists from Institut de Physique du globe.
Interested in joining the team? Contact us!

(photo credit Deep Carbon Observatory).

Thin Liquid Films

Thin liquid films are as ubiquitous in Nature as are fibres, sheets, shells or any slender structures; from the liquid film lining our eyes to lava flows sliding down a volcano slope or the fragile soapy skin of a bubble, the examples are many. In an industrial context thin liquid films may be used as a proxy to confer new functions (think thermal, chemical, mechanical or optical) to given materials by a coating process. In the framework of a nice collaboration with SVI lab associated to glass manufacturer Saint-Gobain, we explore the dynamics and stability properties of heterogeneous (binary) or surfactant-laden liquid films. This study has prompted the development of an original numerical approach consisting in stacking lubrication-like layers in Basilisk code developed at ∂'Alembert by Stéphane Popinet.

Surface Tension & Elasticity

If at our human scale, surface tension forces are barely perceptible, they become increasingly relevant at smaller and smaller scales, and can balance -- or exceed -- e.g. gravity or elasticity effects. A striking manifestation of this interplay between surface tension and elasticity is provided by the strange behaviour of the spider capture silk spun by different types of ecribellate spiders. This gluey thread looks as an extremely stretchable and almost telescopic material. With biologists from the Oxford Silk Group we found this curious behaviour to be rooted in the buckling, coiling and spooling of core silk within each glue droplet. Analogously, capillarity-induced folds on liquid infused membranes allow to design extremely stretchable thin materials akin to cellular membranes, and open interesting ways for novel, highly stretchable, functionalized materials.

Hydrodynamics of Violent Events

Bursting bubbles, droplets splashing or massive waves slamming a wall or a ship are fast events involving rapidly distorting flow patterns and stresses. Though markedly unsteady and nonlinear, these flows sometimes exhibit particular symmetries (self-similar) that reveal much information when identified. We use this theoretical toolbox to investigate and revisit century-long problems such as the mechanisms of raindrop impact-mediated erosion for example.
To shed light over the physics of these fast and sometimes singular flows (where both pressure and velocity tend to diverge locally) we map experimentally both the forms and the forces displayed during these events using conventional fast imagery and acoustic techniques.

Publications

On making holes in liquids
Antkowiak, A.
J. Fluid Mech. 930 (2021)
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Sound of effervescence
Poujol, M., Wunenburger, R., Ollivier, F., Antkowiak, A., Pierre, J.
Phys. Rev. Fluids 6 (2021)
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Acoustic Sensing of Forces Driving Fast Capillary Flows
Bussonnière, A., Antkowiak, A., Ollivier, F., Baudoin, M., Wunenburger, R.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124 (2020)
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Shape of a recoiling liquid filament
Contò, F. P., Marín, J. F., Antkowiak, A., Castrejón-Pita, J. R., Gordillo, L.
Sci. Rep. 9 (2019)
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Capillarity-induced folds fuel extreme shape changes in thin wicked membranes
Grandgeorge, P., Krins, N., Hourlier-Fargette, A., Laberty-Robert, C., Neukirch, S., Antkowiak, A.
Science 360 (2018)
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A pressure impulse theory for hemispherical liquid impact problems
Philippi, J., Antkowiak, A., Lagrée, P.-Y.
Eur. J. Mech. B/Fluids 67 (2018)
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Auxiliary soft beam for the amplification of the elasto-capillary coiling: Towards stretchable electronics
Grandgeorge, P., Antkowiak, A., Neukirch, S.
Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 255 (2017)
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Role of uncrosslinked chains in droplets dynamics on silicone elastomers
Hourlier-Fargette, A., Antkowiak, A., Chateauminois, A., Neukirch, S.
Soft Matter 13 (2017)
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Drop-on-coilable-fibre systems exhibit negative stiffness events and transitions in coiling morphology
Elettro, H., Vollrath, F., Antkowiak, A., Neukirch, S.
Soft Matter 13 (2017)
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It's Harder to Splash on Soft Solids
Howland, C. J., Antkowiak, A., Castrejón-Pita, J. R., Howison, S. D., Oliver, J. M., Style, R. W., Castrejón-Pita, Alfonso A.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 (2016)
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Evaporation of droplets in a Champagne wine aerosol
Ghabache, E., Liger-Belair, G., Antkowiak, A., Séon, T.
Sci. Rep. 6 (2016)
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In-drop capillary spooling of spider capture thread inspires hybrid fibers with mixed solid--liquid mechanical properties
Elettro, H., Neukirch, S., Vollrath, F., Antkowiak, A.
Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 (2016)
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Drop impact on a solid surface: short-time self-similarity
Philippi, J., Lagrée, P.-Y., Antkowiak, A.
J. Fluid Mech. 795 (2016)
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Comment on ``Acoustical observation of bubble oscillations induced by bubble popping''
Blanc, É., Ollivier, F., Antkowiak, A., Wunenburger, R.
Phys. Rev. E 91 (2015)
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Coiling of an elastic beam inside a disk: A model for spider-capture silk
Elettro, H., Vollrath, F., Antkowiak, A., Neukirch, S.
Int. J. Nonlinear Mech. 75 (2015)
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Adhesion of dry and wet electrostatic capture silk of uloborid spider
Elettro, H., Neukirch, S., Antkowiak, A., Vollrath, F.
The Science of Nature 102 (2015)
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Liquid jet eruption from hollow relaxation
Ghabache, É., Séon, T., Antkowiak, A.
J. Fluid Mech. 761 (2014)
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Elastocapillary Snapping: Capillarity Induces Snap-Through Instabilities in Small Elastic Beams
Fargette, A., Neukirch, S., Antkowiak, A.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 112 (2014)
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Soft beams: When capillarity induces axial compression
Neukirch, S., Antkowiak, A., Marigo, J.-J.
Phys. Rev. E 89 (2014)
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On the physics of fizziness: How bubble bursting controls droplets ejection
Ghabache, É., Antkowiak, A., Josserand, C., Séon, T.
Phys. Fluids 26 (2014)
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The bending of an elastic beam by a liquid drop: A variational approach
Neukirch, S., Antkowiak, A., Marigo, J.-J.
Proc. R. Soc. A 469 (2013)
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Elasto-capillary meniscus: pulling out a soft strip sticking to a liquid surface
Rivetti, M., Antkowiak, A.
Soft Matter 9 (2013)
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Large Bubble Rupture Sparks Fast Liquid Jet
Séon, T., Antkowiak, A.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 (2012)
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Collection of collapsing bubble driven phenomena found in champagne glasses
Liger-Belair, G., Séon, T., Antkowiak, A.
Bubble Sci. Eng. Technol. 4 (2012)
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Jets in viscous bubbles
Séon, T., Antkowiak, A.
Phys. Fluids 23 (2011)
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Instant fabrication and selection of folded structures using drop impact
Antkowiak, A., Audoly, B., Josserand, C., Neukirch, S., Rivetti, M.
Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108 (2011)
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Cavity jets
Antkowiak, A., Bremond, N., Duplat, J., Le Dizès, S., Villermaux, E.
Phys. Fluids 19 (2007)
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On vortex rings around vortices: an optimal mechanism
Antkowiak, A., Brancher, P.
J. Fluid Mech. 578 (2007)
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Short-term dynamics of a density interface following an impact
Antkowiak, A., Bremond, N., Le Dizès, S., Villermaux, E.
J. Fluid Mech. 577 (2007)
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Transient energy growth for the Lamb-Oseen vortex
Antkowiak, A., Brancher, P.
Phys. Fluids 16 (2004)
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Arnaud Antkowiak