Equilibrium shape and contact angle of sessile drops of different volumes—Computation by SPH and its further improvement by DI

Abstract

Equilibrium shapes of sessile liquid drops over horizontal substrates are modeled using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The model can predict the variations of shape and contact angle of drops as a function of drop volume. In the model, a scheme of repositioning the particle at the triple line has been incorporated to attain the in situ contact angle. The simulations show a reasonable match with available analytical results. However, some mismatch of the drop shape near the three-phase contact line is observed. To improve the predictability, combined diffused interface smoothed particle hydrodynamics model ( Das and Das, 2009b) is employed. The developed hybrid simulations improve the prediction. Estimated drop shapes and contact angle agree with experimental data reasonably well over a wide range of fluid properties and drop volume. The technique establishes the suitability of a particle-based hydrodynamic simulation for the modeling of complex interfaces and three-phase contact lines.