Numerical Modeling of Liquid Drop Spreading Behavior on Inclined Surfaces

Abstract

A numerical study was conducted on the spreading behavior of liquid drops on flat solid surfaces. The model predicts the shape of liquid-vapor interface under static equilibrium using an unstructured surface grid composed of triangular elements. Incremental movement of base contour, i.e. solid-liquid-vapor contact line, is also captured such that the constrained boundary conditions, i.e. advancing and receding contact angles, can be satisfied. The numerical model is applied to a common experiment that studies the behavior of liquid drops on inclined surfaces, where the shape of the drops change in response to an alteration of total volume or gravitational direction. On a heterogeneous surface that has contact angle hysteresis, the shape of the base contour on the solid surface is not determined uniquely but rather dependent upon history. This study demonstrates such dependence by comparing the spreading of a liquid drop on a solid surface with different quasi-equilibrium paths.