Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2025

A Suction Blister Protocol to Study Human T-cell Recall Responses In Vivo
Published on: August 11, 2018
Coalescence of Elastic Blisters Filled with a Viscous Fluid
Torstein Sæter1, Christian Pedersen1, Jacco H Snoeijer2
1Department of Mathematics, Mechanics Division, University of Oslo, Oslo 0316, Norway.
Abstract:
Pockets of viscous fluid coalescing beneath an elastic sheet are encountered in a wide range of natural phenomena and engineering processes, spanning across scales. As the pockets merge, a bridge is formed with a height increasing as the sheet relaxes. We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of such an elastohydrodynamic coalescence process by combining experiments, lubrication theory, and numerical simulations. The bridge height exhibits an exponential growth with time, which corresponds to a self-similar solution of the bending-driven thin-film equation. We address this unique self-similarity and the self-similar shape of the bridge, both of which are corroborated in numerical simulations and experiments.
Related Concept Videos
Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble
Cell Motility through Blebbing
Blebbing Through the Matrix
In multicellular...
Elastin is Responsible for Tissue Elasticity
Ligaments and tendons are made of dense regular connective tissue, but in ligaments not all fibers are parallel. Dense regular elastic tissue contains elastin fibers and...
Formation of the Platelet Plug
As the injured blood vessel contracts, endothelial cells undergo contraction, revealing collagen fibers in the basement membrane and underlying connective tissue. Furthermore, the plasma membrane of endothelial cells becomes adhesive, preparing the site for platelet adhesion. Platelets...
Inflammation
Vesicular Tubular Clusters
With the help of motor proteins such...

