Thermodynamics modeling for moving contact line in gasÕliquidÕsolid system: Capillary rise problem revisited

The nonequilibrium thermodynamics framework is tailored in the present paper to formulate the gas/liquid/solid system. In this system, there are two important issues, namely, the contact line motion and contact angle change, and shear stress singularity, during the dynamic evolution. Traditionally, the fluid mechanics approach has been applied to model these two issues. In the present paper, we applied a thermodynamics formulation to re-examine the first issue, i.e., the dynamic motion of the contact line and angle, and which provides a new angle to understand the fundamentals of this classical problem. In order to verify the reliability of the present thermodynamics formulation, the capillary rise problem is revisited by using the formulation. A numerical result obtained based on the thermodynamics formulation is then compared with an experimental test data. Excellent agreement between our analytical and experimental results gives us confidence for the future works on this approach. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1369140#