Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guilleminot, Baptiste, Harlé, Élodie, Herbeau, Timothée
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05789
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917387994923008
author Guilleminot, Baptiste
Harlé, Élodie
Herbeau, Timothée
author_facet Guilleminot, Baptiste
Harlé, Élodie
Herbeau, Timothée
contents The phenomenon of salt creeping along a free surface remains only partially understood, particularly with respect to its dynamics. In this work, combining a theoretical model with controlled experiments, we identify three distinct kinetic regimes: an initial exponential growth of the height of the crystallized salt deposit on vertical walls, followed by a linear regime, and a final stage where the height saturates while the crystal deposit thickens logarithmically. This unified description makes it possible to follow the macroscopic kinetics of salt growth on a free surface from its nucleation to saturation. In addition, we complement this macroscopic analysis with numerical simulations that shed light on the evolution of the microscopic crystal structure under varying external conditions (humidity and temperature).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_05789
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Kinetics of Salt Creeping on a Free Surface: From Nucleation to Saturation
Guilleminot, Baptiste
Harlé, Élodie
Herbeau, Timothée
Soft Condensed Matter
The phenomenon of salt creeping along a free surface remains only partially understood, particularly with respect to its dynamics. In this work, combining a theoretical model with controlled experiments, we identify three distinct kinetic regimes: an initial exponential growth of the height of the crystallized salt deposit on vertical walls, followed by a linear regime, and a final stage where the height saturates while the crystal deposit thickens logarithmically. This unified description makes it possible to follow the macroscopic kinetics of salt growth on a free surface from its nucleation to saturation. In addition, we complement this macroscopic analysis with numerical simulations that shed light on the evolution of the microscopic crystal structure under varying external conditions (humidity and temperature).
title Kinetics of Salt Creeping on a Free Surface: From Nucleation to Saturation
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05789