Contact Angle Measurement in Lattice Boltzmann Method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple, efficient geometry-based scheme for real-time contact angle measurement in lattice Boltzmann simulations, applicable to static and dynamic wetting scenarios.

Contribution

A novel local-data-based mesoscopic scheme for accurate, real-time contact angle measurement in lattice Boltzmann simulations, independent of multiphase models.

Findings

Excellent agreement with benchmark spherical cap method

Effective in gravitational environments for sessile and pendent droplets

Capable of measuring contact angle hysteresis on heterogeneous surfaces

Abstract

Contact angle is an essential characteristic in wetting, capillarity and moving contact line; however, although contact angle phenomena are effectively simulated, an accurate and real-time measurement for contact angle has not been well studied in computational fluid dynamics, especially in dynamic environments. Here, we design a geometry-based mesoscopic scheme to onthesport measure the contact angle in the lattice Boltzmann method. The computational results without gravity effect are in excellent agreement with the benchmarks from the spherical cap method. The qualities of the scheme are further verified in gravitational environments by simulating sessile and pendent droplets on smooth solid surfaces and contact angle hysteresis on chemically heterogeneous surfaces. This scheme is simple, efficient and requires only the local data. It is independent of multiphase models and can be easily extended to 3D dynamic contact angle measurements.