Modeling Footprint Profiles for Different Drop-Substrate Pairs

Abstract

Modeling drop dynamics in 3D is an active area of research. Of particular interest is the simulation of the contact line profiles for moving liquid drops of varying physical properties, such as liquid surface tension and substrate wettability. The Lagrangian Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) numerical approach is adopted for predicting the footprint profiles of moving liquid drops. The Lagrangian PFEM is advantageous due to its ability to provide an accurate mesh-based boundary description, and thus, facilitates the computation of the freesurface and footprint evolution. The modeling outcomes agree with the general experimental behavior for different dropsubstrate pairs with widely differing properties.