Predictive Model to Probe the Impact of Gravity and Surface Tension on Rising Wetting Thin Films.

ABSTRACT

Utilizing kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we developed a three-dimensional Ising lattice gas model to reveal the wetting mechanism of a liquid film rising along a vertical substrate. The model takes into account the impact of surface tension, gravity, and interaction energy between liquid particles and between liquid and substrate on the rise of the liquid film. We verify that in low gravitational acceleration regime, the growth of the liquid film follows the universal law of [Formula see text]. As gravitational acceleration and surface tension vary, the simulation results show the detailed dynamics of the solid-liquid interface. Explicit analysis of the interface displacement and roughness under different gravitational accelerations and surface tensions is also presented.