Simulation of sliding of liquid droplets

Numerical simulations of sliding behavior of liquid droplets on flat and periodic microgrooved surfaces with a range of groove geometry are conducted. A numerical model is developed which is capable of predicting the critical sliding angle of the drop by comparing the advancing and the receding angles obtained from numerical and experimental findings. The effect of microgroove topography, droplet size and inclination angle on the droplet sliding characteristics is analysed. Using an open-source platform (Surface Evolver), a 3D drop-shape model is developed to numerically determine the drop stability and contact angle hysteresis on tilted surfaces. In this numerical model, the three phase contact line of the drop is obtained by numerically calculating the vertex force and local contact angle at each vertex of the base contour. Several numerical models are developed based on various assumptions of base contour shape (circular or elliptical) and implementation of gravitational force to the droplet. Droplet shapes and critical sliding angles, obtained from these numerical models, are compared with those of experimental results and are found to be in very good agreement.