Lattice Boltzmann simulation of droplet dynamics on granular surfaces with variable wettability

Soil-composing particles undergo wettability changes, impacting hydraulic and mechanical processes such as erosion and landslides. Such processes evolve at very small scales, typically at the particle level. Here we capture the evolution of liquid interfaces in a single particle and several particles with the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. The paper presents a three-dimensional LB study on the droplet dynamics on a layer of uniformly packed spherical particles with varying size and intrinsic contact angle (CA) aimed at mimicking conditions comparable to those of real soils. The numerical droplet is initialized close to the granular surface and deposited by gravity. Three spreading and infiltration behaviors were identified: a droplet with a stable apparent CA, a droplet with a metastable apparent CA before infiltration, and immediate infiltration. The results showed that the formation of a droplet with a stable or metastable spherical-cap shape depends on the particle size and the intrinsic CA. Furthermore, the initial wetted zone expansion was found to be governed by inertial effects with its behavior characterized by a power law. Finally, the apparent CA, which is closely related to the intrinsic CA, was found to be influenced by the particle size due to a significant portion of the droplet being embedded into the granular surface for the larger particles and reducing the apparent CA. This paper provides a basis for future research targeting the behavior of droplet interaction with granular surfaces with variable intrinsic CAs (from wettable to superhydrophobic) such as soils and other granular materials for industrial applications. The numerical approach implemented can also be extended to model other dynamic processes for a droplet, such as evaporation, high-velocity impacting, and lateral sliding.