Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 64: Wetting and Liquids at Interfaces and Surfaces II (joint session CPP/DY/O)

DY 64.9: Talk

Friday, March 20, 2020, 12:00–12:15, ZEU 260

Gradient dynamics model for drops spreading on polymer brushes — •Simon Hartmann and Uwe Thiele — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Deutschland

When a liquid drop spreads on an adaptive substrate the latter changes its properties what may result in an intricate coupled dynamics of drop and substrate. We present a generic mesoscale hydrodynamic model for such processes that is written as a gradient dynamics on an underlying energy functional. We specify the model details for the example of a drop spreading on a dry polymer brush. There, liquid absorption into the brush results in swelling of the brush causing changes in the brush topography and wettability. The liquid may also advance within the brush via diffusion (or wicking) resulting in coupled drop and brush dynamics. The specific model accounts for coupled spreading, absorption and wicking dynamics when the underlying energy functional incorporates capillarity, wettability and brush energy. We employ a simple version of such a model to numerically simulate a droplet spreading on a swelling brush and provide an in-depth analysis of the simulation results and some interesting quantities.