Study on droplet nucleation position and jumping on structured hydrophobic surface using the lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

In this study, droplet nucleation and jumping on the conical microstructure surface is simulated using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The nucleation and jumping laws of the droplet on the surface are summarized. The numerical results suggest that the height and the gap of the conical microstructure exhibit a significant influence on the nucleation position of the droplet. When the ratio of height to the gap of the microstructure(H/D) is small, the droplet tends to nucleate at the bottom of the structure. Otherwise, the droplet tends to nucleate towards the side of the structure. The droplet grown in the side nucleation mode possesses better hydrophobicity than that of the droplet grown in the bottom nucleation mode and the droplet jumping becomes easier. Apart from the coalescence of the droplets jumping out of the surface, jumping of individual droplets may also occur under certain conditions. The ratio of the clearance to the width of the conical microstructure(D/F) depends on the jumping mode of the droplet. The simulation results indicate that when the D/F ratio is greater than 1.2, the coalescence jump of droplets is likely to occur. On the contrary, the individual jump of droplets is easy to occur.