Modelling capillary filling dynamics using lattice Boltzmann simulations

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of capillary filling using two lattice Boltzmann schemes: a liquid-gas model and a binary model. The simulation results are compared to the well-known Washburn's law, which predicts that the filled length of the capillary scales with time as $l\propto t^{1/2}$. We find that the liquid-gas model does not reproduce Washburn's law due to condensation of the gas phase at the interface, which causes the asymptotic behaviour of the capillary penetration to be faster than $t^{1/2}. The binary model, on the other hand, captures the correct scaling behaviour when the viscosity ratio between the two phases is sufficiently high.

9 pages, 7 figures, DSFD 2007 proceedings

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