Buoyancy of a thin plate pressing a floating oil film on water

Because of the superhydrophobicity of their legs, water striders and many other aquatic creatures can stand and walk effortlessly on water. Because of pollution, an oil film may exist on water in some practical situations. To date, however, it remains unclear how the presence of an oil film would affect the wetting behavior of an object floating on water. In this work, we investigated, both theoretically and experimentally, the buoyancy of a thin plate pressing the surface of a bilayered liquid system. In particular, the effect of the oil layer on the buoyancy force was examined. The critical depth and the corresponding buoyancy at the penetration of the plate into the liquids were obtained analytically. For a plate vertically pressing the liquid surface, the force-displacement loop during a complete advancing-receding cycle was analyzed. Experiments were also performed to verify the theoretical results.