Interfacial phenomena and dynamic contact angle modulation in microcapillary flows subjected to electroosmotic actuation

The dynamic evolution of an incompressible liquid meniscus inside a microcapillary is investigated, under the combined influences of viscous, capillary, intermolecular, pondermotive, and electroosmotic effects. In the limit of small capillary numbers, an advancing meniscus shape is shown to merge smoothly with the precursor film, using matched asymptotic analysis. A scaling relationship is also established for the dynamic contact angle as a nondimensional function of the capillary number and the applied electrical voltage. The analysis is further generalized by invoking a kinetic slip model for overcoming the constraints of meniscus tip singularity. The kinetic slip model is subsequently utilized to analyze the interfacial dynamics from the perspective of the results obtained from the matched asymptotic analysis. A generalization is achieved in this regard, which may provide a sound basis for controlling the topographical features of a dynamically evolving meniscus in a microcapillary subjected to electrokinetic effects. These results are also in excellent agreement with the experimental findings over a wide range of capillary number values.