A NUMERICAL MODEL OF GAS-LIQUID-SOLID CONTACT LINE

This paper presents an extension of the Front Tracking method initially developed by the team of Pr G. Tryggvason to perform the direct numerical simulation of two-phase flows. The extension concerns the ability of such a method to take into account the motion of a contact line. The selected numerical model enables one to simulate moving contact line by bypassing the mathematical singularity with the use of a staggered grid. It does not pretend to solve the singularity, but allows physical tracking of interfaces in processes that involve contact angle hysteresis or dependency of this angle on the speed of displacement of the contact line. Calculations performed on three different situations illustrate the capability of such a simple numerical model of contact line.