Stéphane Perrard

When a liquid drop is poured onto a very hot surface, it can levitate on its own vapor film. The so-called Leidenfrost effect is a graal for the experimental physicist as a tool to isolate liquids from any solid contact. Using curved heated substrate, we achieve levitation of liquid cylinder of macroscopic sizes, typically 50cm long and 1cm wide. This experimental discovery led to the study of surface waves on exotic geometries (toroidal channel, linear channel, symetric and asymetric channels). Current work is done in collaboration with C.T. Pham (Université Paris-Sud, LIMSI).