Evolution of mesh-like liquid films in multi-port lifted Hele Shaw cells

•Mesh-like liquid film can form spontaneously in lifted Hele-Shaw cells with holes in top plate.•Liquid mesh can be used as templates for casting network of microchannels.•Experiments and numerical simulations have been used to study the problem.•Capillary number and hole density play an important role in determining shape and stability of interfaces.•Low order model developed based on insights obtained from simulations. Multi-port Lifted Hele-Shaw Cells (MLHSCs) can be used to efficiently generate liquid films with regular mesh-like patterns, which in turn may be used as templates for micro-fabrication of mesh-like structures. This work systematically characterizes the spatio-temporal evolution of Newtonian liquid films in MLHSCs using experiments and numerical simulations. The interior holes of the mesh tend to assume circular shapes for low Capillary number, while they approach a square-like shape at high Capillary number. Fingering instability is observed at high Capillary numbers and higher inter-hole spacing. Capillary number can also significantly affect the shape of peripheral and corner holes in the mesh. Numerical simulations, based on front tracking method, are used to characterize the stability of interfaces in a periodic hole array. Data from numerical simulations is used to construct and validate a computationally efficient low-order model for predicting the evolution of mesh-like patterns formed in the film.