Kinetics of Salt Creeping on a Free Surface: From Nucleation to Saturation

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).

Baptiste Guilleminot, Élodie Harlé, Timothée Herbeau · 2026