Moving Contact Lines: Scales, Regimes, and Dynamical Transitions

2013/01/03 by Jacco H. Snoeijer, Bruno Andreotti · 837 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Mathematics · #Chemical physics #Classical mechanics #Context (archaeology) #Entrainment (biomusicology) #Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer #Geology #Geometry #Line (geometry) #Mathematics #Mechanics #Nanomaterials and Printing Technologies #Physics #Solid surface #Statistical physics #Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity #Thermodynamics #Wetting

paper · doi:10.1146/annurev-fluid-011212-140734

published in Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics 45(1), 269-292 (Annual Reviews)

openalex publication_date 2013/01/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The speed at which a liquid can move over a solid surface is strongly limited when a three-phase contact line is present, separating wet from dry regions. When enforcing large contact line speeds, this leads to the entrainment of drops, films, or air bubbles. In this review, we discuss experimental and theoretical progress revealing the physical mechanisms behind these dynamical wetting transitions. In this context, we discuss microscopic processes that have been proposed to resolve the moving–contact line paradox and identify the different dynamical regimes of contact line motion.

Citations

• Long-scale evolution of thin liquid films
• The dynamics of the spreading of liquids on a solid surface. Part 1. Viscous flow

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