Multiscale liquid drop impact on wettable and textured surfaces

The impact of microscopic liquid drops on solids with a variety of surface characteristics is studied using numerical simulations. The focus is on relatively low impact velocities leading to bouncing or spreading drops, and the effects of wettability. Molecular dynamics and lattice Boltzmann simulation methods are used for nanometer-sized and continuum drops, respectively, and the results of the two methods are compared in terms of scaled variables. We consider surfaces which are flat, curved or pillared, with either homogeneous interactions or cross-shaped patterns of wettability. In most situations we observe similar drop behavior at both length scales; the two methods agree best at low impact velocities on wettable surfaces while discrepancies are most pronounced for strongly hydrophobic surfaces and for higher velocities. (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.