Numerical simulation of an evaporative meniscus on a moving substrate

Abstract

A hydrodynamic model based on lubrication theory has been developed to describe an evaporative meniscus in a complete wetting configuration, when evaporation takes place in ambient air. We focus on combined effects of evaporation and the substrate motion on the effective contact angle. Numerical simulations show two distinct regimes when varying the substrate velocity on several orders of magnitude. At a small velocity, the effective contact angle is governed by evaporation and is independent of the substrate velocity, while the substrate motion is dominant at a high velocity. In the latter case, a Landau-Levich regime is obtained for the receding contact line, and a Cox-Voinov regime for the advancing contact line. Finally, we use our numerical results to test the simplified model developed by Pham et al. [5,6].