Lattice-Boltzmann simulations of the dynamics of liquid barrels

We study the relaxation towards equilibrium of a liquid barrel—a partially wetting droplet in a wedge geometry—using a diffuse-interface approach. We formulate a hydrodynamic model of the motion of the barrel in the framework of the Navier–Stokes and Cahn–Hilliard equations of motion. We present a lattice-Boltzmann method to integrate the diffuse-interface equations, where we introduce an algorithm to model the dynamic wetting of the liquid on smooth solid boundaries. We present simulation results of the over-damped dynamics of the liquid barrel. We find that the relaxation of the droplets is driven by capillary forces and damped by friction forces. We show that the friction is determined by the contribution of the bulk flow, the corner flow near the contact lines and the motion of the contact lines by comparing simulation results for the relaxation time of the barrel. Our results are in broad agreement with previous analytical predictions based on a sharp interface model. (paper)