Meniscus Arrest during Capillary Rise in Asymmetric Microfluidic Pore Junctions

The capillary rise of liquid in asymmetric channel junctions with branches of different radii can lead to long-lasting meniscus arrests in the wider channel, which has important implications for the morphology and dynamical broadening of imbibition fronts in porous materials with elongated pores. Using a microfluidic setup, we experimentally demonstrate the existence of arrest events in Y-shaped junctions, and measure their duration and compare them with theoretical predictions. For various ratios of the channel width and liquid viscosities and for different values of the feeding channel length, we find that the meniscus within the wider branch is arrested for a time that is proportional to the time that the meniscus needed to reach the junction, in very good quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions.