Shaken not stirred —On internal flow patterns in oscillating sessile drops

We use numerical (volume of fluid) simulations to study the flow in an oscillating sessile drop immersed in an ambient immiscible fluid. The drop is excited by a sinusoidal variation of the contact angle at variable frequency. We identify the eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes of the drops and analyze the internal flow fields by following the trajectories of tracer particles. The flow fields display an oscillatory component as well as a time-averaged mean component. The latter is oriented upward along the surface of the drop from the contact line towards the apex and downward along the symmetry axis. It vanishes at high and low frequencies and displays a broad maximum around f=200–300 Hz. We show that the frequency dependence of the mean flow can be described in terms of Stokes drift driven by capillary waves that originate from the contact line, in agreement with recent experiments (Mugele F. et al., Lab Chip, 11 (2011) 2011).