Numerical Modeling of Thermocapillary Deformation and Film Breakdown in a Locally Heated Thin Horizontal Volatile Liquid Layer

The problem of thermocapillary deformation and film breakdown in a thin horizontal layer of viscous incompressible liquid with a free surface is considered. The deformable liquid layer is locally heated. The problem of thermocapillary deformation of the locally heated horizontal liquid layer has been solved numerically for two-dimensional unsteady case. The lubrication approximation theory is used. Capillary pressure, viscosity and gravity are taken into account. Evaporating rate is supposed to be proportional to the temperature difference between the liquid and ambient. Heat transfer in the substrate is also simulated. The numerical algorithm for the joint solution of the energy equation and the evolution equation for the thickness of liquid layer has been developed. The model predicts the thermocapillary deformation of the liquid surface and the formation of dry spots. The dynamics of liquid surface, the dry spots formation and the velocity of the contact line have been calculated. The deformation of the free surface has been calculated for different values of the heating power and thickness of the liquid layer. The effect of surface tension coefficient and wetting contact angle on the velocity of the contact line motion has been analyzed. It has been obtained that the velocity of the contact line increases with the increase of the wetting contact angle value and of the surface tension coefficient