Effects of dynamic contact angle on numerical modeling of electrowetting in parallel plate microchannels

Electrowetting phenomenon in parallel plate microchannel is investigated numerically. The current study advances accuracy of numerical modeling of electrowetting by considering dynamic behavior of the tri-phase contact line using molecular-kinetic theory. This theory in conjunction with volume of fluid method, which has been proved to be a powerful approach for free surface modeling, is used to simulate the phenomenon. By comparing the results against experimental data from literature, the simulation demonstrates significant improvement in results. It is concluded that ignoring dynamic features of wetting leads to overestimation of the effect of electrowetting actuation on various parameters including contact angle, aspect ratio and velocity of the droplet.