A Contact Line Dynamic Model for a Conducting Water Drop on an Electrowetting Device

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 811-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongdong He ◽  
Huaxiong Huang

AbstractThe static shape of drop under electrowetting actuation is well studied and recent electrowetting theory and experiments confirm that the local contact angle (microscopic angle) is unaffected while the apparent contact angle (macroscopic angle) is characterized by the Lippmann-Young equation. On the other hand, the evolution of the drop motion under electrowetting actuation has received less attention. In this paper, we investigate the motion of a conducting water drop on an electrowetting device (EWD) using the level set method. We derive a contact line two-phase flow model under electrowetting actuation using energy dissipation by generalizing an existing contact line model without the electric field. Our model is consistent with the static electrowetting theory as the dynamic contact angle satisfies the static Young's equation under equilibrium conditions. Our steady state results show that the apparent contact angle predicted by our model satisfies the Lippmann-Young's relation. Our numerical results based on the drop maximum deformation agree with experimental observations and static electrowetting theory. Finally, we show that for drop motion our results are not as good due to the difficulty of computing singular electric field accurately. Nonetheless, they provide useful insights and ameaningful first step towards the understanding of the drop dynamics under electrowetting actuation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 229 (10) ◽  
pp. 1945-1977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulii D. Shikhmurzaev

Abstract After a brief overview of the ‘moving contact-line problem’ as it emerged and evolved as a research topic, a ‘litmus test’ allowing one to assess adequacy of the mathematical models proposed as solutions to the problem is described. Its essence is in comparing the contact angle, an element inherent in every model, with what follows from a qualitative analysis of some simple flows. It is shown that, contrary to a widely held view, the dynamic contact angle is not a function of the contact-line speed as for different spontaneous spreading flows one has different paths in the contact angle-versus-speed plane. In particular, the dynamic contact angle can decrease as the contact-line speed increases. This completely undermines the search for the ‘right’ velocity-dependence of the dynamic contact angle, actual or apparent, as a direction of research. With a reference to an earlier publication, it is shown that, to date, the only mathematical model passing the ‘litmus test’ is the model of dynamic wetting as an interface formation process. The model, which was originated back in 1993, inscribes dynamic wetting into the general physical context as a particular case in a wide class of flows, which also includes coalescence, capillary breakup, free-surface cusping and some other flows, all sharing the same underlying physics. New challenges in the field of dynamic wetting are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 894 ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Thanh Long Le ◽  
Jyh Chen Chen ◽  
Huy Bich Nguyen

In this study, the numerical computation is used to investigate the transient movement of a water droplet in a microchannel. For tracking the evolution of the free interface between two immiscible fluids, we employed the finite element method with the two-phase level set technique to solve the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the energy equation. Both the upper wall and the bottom wall of the microchannel are set to be an ambient temperature. 40mW heat source is placed at the distance of 1 mm from the initial position of a water droplet. When the heat source is turned on, a pair of asymmetric thermocapillary convection vortices is formed inside the droplet and the thermocapillary on the receding side is smaller than that on the advancing side. The temperature gradient inside the droplet increases quickly at the initial times and then decreases versus time. Therefore, the actuation velocity of the water droplet first increases significantly, and then decreases continuously. The dynamic contact angle is strongly affected by the oil flow motion and the net thermocapillary momentum inside the droplet. The advancing contact angle is always larger than the receding contact angle during actuation process.


Author(s):  
Fangjun Hong ◽  
Ping Cheng ◽  
Zhen Sun ◽  
Huiying Wu

In this paper, the electrowetting dynamics of a droplet on a dielectric surface was investigated numerically by a mathematical model including dynamic contact angle and contact angle hysteresis. The fluid flow is described by laminar N-S equation, the free surface of the droplet is modeled by the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method, and the electrowetting force is incorporated by exerting an electrical force on the cells at the contact line. The Kilster’s model that can deal with both receding and advancing contact angle is adopted. Numerical results indicate that there is overshooting and oscillation of contact radius in droplet spreading process before it ceases the movement when the excitation voltage is high; while the overshooting is not observed for low voltage. The explanation for the contact line overshooting and some special characteristics of variation of contact radius with time were also conducted.


Author(s):  
Alexandru Herescu ◽  
Jeffrey S. Allen

Film deposition experiments are performed in circular glass capillaries of 500 μm diameter. Two surface wettabilities are considered, contact angle of 30° for water on glass and of 105° when a hydrophobic coating is applied. It was observed that the liquid film deposited as the meniscus translates with a velocity U presents a ridge that also moves in the direction of the flow. The ridge is bounded by a contact line moving at a velocity UCL as well as a front of velocity UF, and it translates over the deposited stagnant film. The behavior of the ridge presents striking dissimilarities when the wettability is changed. Both UCL and UF are approximately twice as large for the non-wetting case at the same capillary number Ca. The Taylor bubbles forming due to the growth of the ridge are also differentiated by wettability, being much shorter in the non-wetting case. The dynamics of the contact line is studied experimentally and a criterion is proposed to explain the occurrence of a shock at the advancing front of the ridge. The hydraulic jump cannot be explained by the Froude condition of shock formation in shallow waters, or by an inertial dewetting of the deposited film. For a dynamic contact angle of θd = 6° and according to the proposed criterion, a hydraulic jump forms at the front of the ridge when a critical velocity is reached.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (809) ◽  
pp. FE0004-FE0004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro ITO ◽  
Shoji HIRUTA ◽  
Ryota SHIMURA ◽  
Kenji KATOH ◽  
Tatsuro WAKIMOTO ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Long Thanh Le

In this study, the numerical computation is used to investigate the transient thermocapillary migration of a water droplet in a Microchannel. For tracking the evolution of the free interface between two immiscible fluids, we employed the finite element method with the two-phase level set technique to solve the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the energy equation. Both the upper wall and the bottom wall of the microchannel are set to be an ambient temperature. The heat source is placed at the left side of a water droplet. When the heat source is turned on, a pair of asymmetric thermocapillary convection vortices is formed inside the droplet and the thermocapillary on the receding side is smaller than that on the advancing side. The temperature gradient inside the droplet increases quickly at the initial times and then decreases versus time. Therefore, the actuation velocity of the water droplet first increases significantly, and then decreases continuously. The dynamic contact angle is strongly affected by the oil flow motion and the net thermocapillary momentum inside the droplet. The advancing contact angle is always larger than the receding contact angle during actuation process.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Songyi Guo ◽  
Zhiming Wang ◽  
Quanshu Zeng

Abstract During the process of oil production and transportation, oil-water two-phase flow is a common occurrence. Well completion optimization and production design are greatly affected by the prediction accuracy of two-phase flow characteristics. In this paper, a novel model was proposed to predict the influence of interface shape on stratified flow. Dynamic contact angle theory and minimum energy method were introduced to solve the momentum equations with a curved interface and dispersed phase holdup in the lower water layer or the upper oil layer, respectively. If the interface shape changes from a flat surface to a curved surface, the flow area of the upper water layer will increase, and the flow area of the lower oil layer will decrease. Results showed that the dynamic contact angle and pressure gradient are greatly affected by oil superficial velocity, oil viscosity, and pipe diameter. By comparing the prediction with available experiment results, the validity of the model was evaluated. Results showed that the novel model had an overall good prediction performance for the dimensionless height of the oil-water interface at the mid-plane, the dimensionless height of water climbing, and the pressure gradient, with an average percentage error of 8.32%,16.09%, and 13.12%, respectively. The novel model is a unified model that could be used to solve the problem with a curved/flat interface. It will also promote the oil well production design and horizontal well completion optimization.


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