Wettability effects on contact line dynamics of droplet motion in an inclined channel

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2015 May;91(5):053006. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.91.053006. Epub 2015 May 11.

Abstract

The present work discusses the implications of wall wettability and inclination of the surface on droplet dynamics. In this work, mesoscopic illustration of droplet dynamics in a duct with different inclination angles, based on the two-phase lattice Boltzmann model, is reported. Temporal evolution of wetted length, wetted area, and maximum height of the droplet for surfaces with different inclination angles and wettabilities is furnished in detail in order to elucidate the droplet displacement dynamics. It has been observed that the effect of inclination of the surface on droplet dynamics is more pronounced on a hydrophobic surface as compared to a hydrophilic surface. The time evolution of height and contact line motion of the droplet shows that higher angle of inclination of substrate affects the dynamics strongly irrespective of wettability.