Mechanically forced meniscus water waves in a square container with functionalized wetting conditions

Capillary–gravity surface waves, called meniscus waves, are excited at the air–water interface near the lateral boundary of a mechanically forced square container. Experiments are conducted in two working containers: one is overall hydrophilic at four boundaries and the other is functionalized to have a hydrophobic boundary. The static meniscus structures and instantaneous wave topography are reconstructed at high resolution from the side-view and top-view high-speed camera recordings. Wave resonances arise from the interaction of four inward-traveling waves, with the frequency-response characteristics indicating the effect of wetting conditions on the selection of standing wave patterns. The most-resonant modes are identified as a superposition of dominant modes and higher-order components. An analytical model of the rest-state meniscus and resonant-state wave surface decomposes the wave responses into two groups of resonances along two transverse directions linked by a frequency-dependent parameter γ. Theoretical selection of the dominant wave components and the second-order harmonics is in close agreement with the spatiotemporal surface-fitting experimental results. Additionally, the wetting boundary conditions can be functionalized to excite specific standing wave patterns, which could provide a novel approach to precise pattern control in bioprinting technology for tissue engineering applications.