Prediction of Droplet Tear-Off and Meniscus Formation in the Top-Spot Experiment Using TransAT

For the design and development of new microfluidic devices reliable modeling and simulation tools must be made available. Many extensions to conventional computational fluid dynamics are required, especially multiphase fluid dynamics simulation capability. A new dynamic contact angle model is presented here, which does not require the specification of a contact angle or contact-line velocity. The level-set method is used for interface capture. The model is tested for unit problems such as relaxation to equilibrium of a contact line. It is then applied to the problem of fluid filling in a prototypical microdevice to show its utility as a design tool.