Local fluid and heat flow near contact lines

Abstract

We consider steady two-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer near contact lines in single-phase and two-phase systems. Both single- and double-wedge geometries admit separable solutions in plane polar coordinates for both thermal and flow fields. We consider the class of functions which have bounded temperatures and velocities at the corner. When free surfaces are present, we seek local solutions, those that satisfy all local boundary conditions, and partial local solutions, those that satisfy all but the normal-stress boundary condition. Our aim in this work is to describe local fluid and heat flow in problems where these fields are coupled by determining for which wedge angles solutions exist, identifying singularities in the heat flux and stress which are present at contact lines, and determining the dependence of these singularities on the wedge angles. For thermal fields in two phases we identify two modes of heat transfer that are analogous to the two modes identified by Proudman & Asadullah (1988) for two-fluid flow. For non-isothermal flow, locally, convection does not play a role but coupling through thermocapillary effects on non-isothermal free surfaces can arise. We find that under non-isothermal conditions a planar free surface must leave a planar rigid boundary at an angle of π, the same angle found by Michael (1958) for an isothermal rigid/free wedge, in order to satisfy all local boundary conditions. Finally, we find that situations arise where no coupled solutions of the form sought can be found; we discuss means by which alternative solutions can be obtained.