Effects of dynamic contact angle on liquid infiltration into inclined capillary tubes: (Semi)-analytical solutions

Abstract

In a recent paper, we generalized Washburn’s analytical solution for capillary flow in a horizontally oriented tube by accounting for a dynamic contact angle. In this paper, we derive solutions for flow in inclined tubes that account for gravity. We again consider two general models for dynamic contact angle: the uncompensated Young force on the contact line depends on the capillary number in the form of (1) a power law with exponent β , or (2) a polynomial. A dimensional analysis shows that, aside from the parameters for the model for the uncompensated Young force, the problem is defined through four nondimensional parameters: (1) the advancing equilibrium contact angle, (2) the initial contact angle, (3) a Bond number, and (4) nondimensional liquid pressure at the tube inlet relative to the constant gas pressure. For both contact angle models, we derive analytical solutions for the travel time of the gas–liquid interface as a function of interface velocity. The interface position as a function of travel time can be obtained through numerical integration. For the power law and β = 1 (an approximation of Cox’s model for dynamic contact angle), we obtain an analytical solution for travel time as a function of interface position, as Washburn did for constant contact angle. Four different flow scenarios may occur: the interface moves (1) upward and approaches the height of capillary rise, (2) downward with the steady-state velocity, (3) downward while approaching the steady-state velocity from an initially higher velocity, or (4) downward while approaching the steady-state velocity from an initially smaller velocity.