Drops on Parallel Fibers in a Crosswind

It has been shown recently that drops on a fiber in a crosswind break symmetry and move along the fiber. Motivated by applications such as fog harvesting, filtration, and carbon capture, we study experimentally the interaction between droplets on parallel fibers in a crosswind. We observe that drops on different fibers can interact aerodynamically with both downstream and, perhaps surprisingly, upstream droplets. We show that ordered patterns form when many drops are placed on multiple parallel fibers, hinting at an underlying attractive force between drops on parallel fibers.