Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Gravity and Surface Morphology on Droplet Contact Angles and Wetting State

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Microgravity Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrophobic surfaces have been widely applied for self-cleaning and enhanced heat transfer, and microstructures are closely linked to surface wettability. In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was adopted to study the contact angle and wetting state variation of single droplets on the surface of an array of microstructures, and to obtain an analysis of the impact of micropillar size, surface wettability and gravity on the contact angle and wetting state of droplets. The results indicate that there is some correlation between microcolumn height and droplet contact angle θw in a small range, and the increase of microcolumn height makes a transformation from the Wenzel to the mixed wetting state for droplets (θw = 105° ~ 125) and from the mixed wetting to the Cassie state for droplets (θw = 125° ~ 140°). The droplet contact angle θw increases and then decreases as the microcolumn gap increases, and there exists an optimum contact area of solid–liquid to maximize droplet contact angle θw. The increase of microcolumn width w causes the droplet contact angle θw to fluctuate lower and both the increase of microcolumn gap s and the decrease of microcolumn width w make the transition from Cassie state droplets to Wenzel. The enhancement of the gravitational field causes a variation of the droplet morphology and droplet contact angle θe, making it easier for droplets to overcome gas–liquid interfacial forces to form Wenzel states, but droplets with a large area of interaction between flow and solid are little affected by the variation of the gravitational field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aidun, C.K., Clausen, J.R.: Lattice-Boltzmann Method for Complex Flows. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 42(1), 439–472 (2010)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Ashrafi-Habibabadi, A., Moosavi, A.: Droplet condensation and jumping on structured superhydrophobic surfaces. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 134, 680–693 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aurélie, L., David, Q.: Superhydrophobic states. Nature maters. 2(7), 457–60 (2009)

  • Cui, C.Y., Yuan, J., Qi, B.J., et al.: Study on enhanced condensation heat transfer with the non-uniform wetting surface. Chem. Eng. 48(01), 40–46 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassie, A.B.D.: Contact angles. Discuss. Faraday Soc. 3(1), 11–16 (1948)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, S.Y., Doolen, G.D.: Lattice Boltzmann method for fluid flows. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 30(1), 329–364 (1998)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, L., Yin, Z.H., Hu, W.R.: Transient behavior of the thermocapillary migration of drops under the influence of deformation. Scientia Sinica (Physica,Mechanica & Astronomica) 41(08), 960–968 (2011).

  • Cassie, A.B.D., Baxter, S.: Wettability of porous surfaces. Trans. Faraday Soc. 40, 0546–0550 (1944)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deng, Z.L., et al.: Self-propelled dropwise condensation on a gradient surface. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 114, 419–429 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daniel, O., et al.: Droplet migration during condensation on chemically patterned micropillars. RSC Adv. 6(43), 36698–36704 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong, S., Cheng, P.: Numerical investigation of droplet motion and coalescence by an improved lattice Boltzmann model for phase transitions and multiphase flows. Comput. Fluids 53, 93–104 (2012)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Ginzbourg I., Adler P. M.: Boundary flow condition analysis for the 3-Dimensional lattice Boltzmann model. J. Phys. B Atomic Mol. Phys. 4(2) (1994)

  • Jin, Y.L.: Analysis of static and dynamic behavior of heavy droplets on micro-nano secondary structure surface. Zhejiang University of Technol. (2018)

  • Jiang Y., et al.: Effect of Substrate Microstructure on Thermocapillary Flow and Heat Transfer of Nanofluid Droplet on Heated Wall. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 33(3) (2021)

  • Kalendar, A., et al.: Numerical Investigation of the Effects of High Reynolds and Marangoni Numbers on Thermocapillary Droplet Migration. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 33(2), 1–14 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, Q.P., Ji, X.B., Zhou, R.H., You, T.Y., Xu, J.L.: Enhancement of steam condensation heat transfer on hydrophilic-hydrophobic two-layer structure surface. J. Zhejiang University(Engineering Science) 54(05), 1022–1028+1038 (2020)

  • Kupershtokh, A.L., et al.: Stochastic models of partial discharge activity in solid and liquid dielectrics[J]. IET Sci. Meas. Technol. 1(6), 303–311 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kupershtokh, A.L., Medvedev, D.A., Karpov, D.I.: On equations of state in a lattice Boltzmann method[J]. Comput. Math. Appl. 58(5), 965–974 (2009)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Li, P.P., Chen, Z.Q., Shi, J.: Numerical Study on the Effects of Gravity and Surface Tension on Condensation Process in Square Minichannel[J]. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 30(1–2), 19–24 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, M.J., et al.: Study on nucleation position and wetting state for dropwise condensation on rough structures with different wettability using multiphase lattice Boltzmann method. Int. J. Heat and Mass Transf. 131(C), 96–100 (2019)

  • Li, P.S., et al.: Numerical Simulation of Droplet Departing Induced by Heterogeneous Surface. J. South China University of Technol. (Natural Science Edition) 48(02), 42–49 (2020)

  • Li, H.B., Fang, H.P.: Hysteresis and Saturation of Contact Angle in Electrowetting on a Dielectric Simulated by the Lattice Boltzmann Method. J. Adhes. Sci. Technol. 26(12–17), 1873–1881 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mukherjee, R., et al.: How Surface Orientation Affects Jumping-Droplet Condensation. JOULE 3(5), 1360–1376 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan, G., et al.: Wettabilityof superhydrophobic surface through tuning microcosmic structure. Polym. Maters. Sci. Eng. 26(7), 163–166 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen, C., et al.: Numerical Study on the Liquid-Liquid Interface Evolution during Droplet Coalescence. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 32(4), 737–748 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song, X.C., Li, P., Zhu, R.: Multi-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann simulation of slide damping in micro-scale shear-driven rarefied gas flow. J. Southeast University(English Edition) 35(01), 30–35 (2019)

  • Stark, J.K., Rother, M.A.: The Combined Effects of Gravitational and Thermocapillary Driving Forces on the Interactions of Slightly Deformable, Surfactant - Free Drops. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 32(3), 399–413 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wenzel, R.N.: Resistance of solid surfaces to wetting by water. Ind. Eng. Chem. 28(8), 988–994 (1936)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X.K., Zhang, Y.F., Yu, X.Q.: Research Progress and Application Status of Biomimetic Hybrid Wetting Surfaces. Surface Technology 49(12), 93–115 (2020a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Z., Liu, Y., Zhang, J.Z.: Simulation of microflow in the transition regime using effective-viscosity-based multi-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann model. Acta Physica Sinica 65(01), 299–308 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., et al.: Numerical simulation of gravity-driven droplet displacement on an inclined micro-grooved surface. Proc. The Asme 5th Int. Conf. Micro/Nanoscale Heat Mass Transf. 1 (2016)

  • Wang, X., et al.: Lattice Boltzmann modeling of condensation heat transfer on downward facing surfaces with different wettability. Langmuir: the ACS J. Surf. Colloids 36(31), 9204–9214 (2020b)

  • Wang, X., Xu, B., Chen, Z., et al.: Effects of gravitational force and surface orientation on the jumping velocity and energy conversion efficiency of coalesced droplets. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 32(6), 1185–1197 (2020c)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, H., Zhang, C.B., Chen, Y.P.: Droplet detachment mode during condensation process on a grooved surface. J. Eng. Thermophys. 41(10), 2539–2541 (2020d)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X., Chen, Z.Q., Xu, B.: Coalescence-induced jumping of condensate droplets on microstructured surfaces with different gravitational fields by lattice Boltzmann method. Comput. Fluids 188, 60–69 (2019)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, B.B., et al.: Effect of micro/nano-scale structures on the wettability of surface based on LBM. J. Mater. Sci. Eng. 38(02), 245–249 (2020e)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, B., Zhang, C., Chen, Z.Q., et al.: Investigation of nano-droplet wetting states on array micro-structured surfaces with different gravity. Comput. Fluids 31, 104936 (2021)

  • Xu, B., Chen, Z.Q.: Droplet Movement on a Composite Wedge-Shaped Surface with Multi-Gradients and Different Gravitational Field by Molecular Dynamics. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 30, 571–579 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, C., Jia, Z., Lian, X.: Wetting and adhesion energy of droplets on wettability gradient surfaces. J. Mater. Sci. 55(19), 8185–8198 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, Z.H., Chan, L., Hu, W.R.: GaoThermocapillaryillary migration and interaction of two nondeformable droplets. Appl. Math. Mech. 32(07), 761–773 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Y., Wu, X.M., Zhu, F.Q.: Influence on droplet wetting state by microstructure scale. J. Eng. Thermophys. 40(11), 2632–2636 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zu, Y.Q., Yan, Y.Y.: Lattice Boltzmann method for modeling droplets on chemically heterogeneous and microstructured surfaces with large liquid–gas density ratio. IMA J. Appl. Math. 76(5), 743–760 (2011)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 52006031], Opening Project of the Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer Enhancement and Energy Conservation of Education Ministry (MOEKLEHTEC2020KFJJ04).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiwen Tang, Bo Xu, Xin Wang & Zhenqian Chen

  2. Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Solar Energy Science and Technology, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Xu & Zhenqian Chen

  3. Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Xu & Zhenqian Chen

Authors
  1. Zhiwen Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bo Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhenqian Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhenqian Chen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Submitted to: (Microgravity Science and Technology).

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Research Pioneer and Leader of Microgravity Science in China: Dedicated to the 85th Birthday of Academician Wen-Rui Hu

Guest Editors: Jian-Fu Zhao, Kai Li

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tang, Z., Xu, B., Wang, X. et al. Effects of Gravity and Surface Morphology on Droplet Contact Angles and Wetting State. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 34, 53 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-022-09962-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-022-09962-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation