Finite element framework for describing dynamic wetting phenomena

The finite element simulation of dynamic wetting phenomena, requiring the computation of flow in a domain confined by intersecting a liquid-fluid free surface and a liquid-solid interface, with the three-phase contact line moving across the solid, is considered. For this class of flows, different finite element method (FEM) implementations have been used in the literature, and in some cases, these produced apparently contradictory results. In the present paper, a robust framework for the FEM simulation of dynamic wetting flows is developed, which, by consistently adhering to the FEM methodology, leaves no room for ad hoc 'optional' variations in the numerical handling of these flows. The developed approach makes it possible to conduct a convergence study, assess the spatial resolution required to achieve a preset accuracy and provide the corresponding benchmark calculations. This analysis allows one to identify numerical artefacts, which had previously been interpreted as physical effects, and demonstrates that suppressing numerical errors using a 'strong' implementation of a boundary condition creates bigger and less detectable errors elsewhere in the computational domain. We provide practical recommendations on the spatial resolution required by a numerical scheme for a given set of non-dimensional similarity parameters and give a user-friendly step-by-step guide specifying the entire implementation, which allows the reader to easily reproduce all presented results including the benchmark calculations. It is also shown how the developed framework accommodates generalizations of the mathematical model accounting for additional physical effects, such as gradients in surface tensions. © 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd