Front pinning in capillary filling of chemically coated channels

Abstract

The dynamics of capillary filling in the presence of chemically coated heterogeneous boundaries is investigated, both theoretically and numerically. In particular, by mapping the equations of front motion onto the dynamics of a dissipative driven oscillator, an analytical criterion for front pinning is derived, under the condition of diluteness of the coating spots. The criterion is tested against two dimensional Lattice Boltzmann simulations, and found to provide satisfactory agreement as long as the width of the front interface remains much thinner than the typical heterogeneity scale of the chemical coating.

arXiv comment7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review E

References in corpus (6)

• Generalized Lattice Boltzmann Method with multi-range pseudo-potential
• Mesoscopic modeling of a two-phase flow in the presence of boundaries: the Contact Angle
• Modelling contact angle hysteresis on chemically patterned and superhydrophobic surfaces
• Hydrodynamic theory of de-wetting
• Roughness induced boundary slip in microchannel flows
• Toward a description of contact line motion at higher capillary numbers

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Capillary filling with wall corrugations] Capillary filling in microchannels with wall corrugations: A comparative study of the Concus-Finn criterion by continuum, kinetic and atomistic approaches
• Imbibition through an array of triangular posts
• Contact angle dependence on the fluid-wall dispersive energy
• Reaction-diffusion front crossing a local defect
• Capillary filling with randomly coated walls