Investigation of Influence of Wettability on Poiseuille Flow Via Molecular Dynamics Simulation

In this article, the influence of wettability on a liquid flow between two parallel plane walls were studied by using Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (NEMD) simulation. The wettability of the solid surfaces can be described as the contact angle. The liquid flow rate, the slip velocity and the slip length which are affected by the contact angle were investigated. The results show that the boundary condition at a microscopic level is different from a “no-slip” condition at a macroscopic level. There exits a slippage of a liquid flow for the hydrophobic boundary and an external force is needed to overcome threshold pressure for the hydrophilic boundary. And the orderly layered distributions of the liquid particles near the hydrophilic surface vary from a place near the hydrophobic surface. The study indicates that the surface wettability plays a significant role on possibilities of forming a viscous layer and the direct slip at the solid surface. The resistance of liquid flow can be decreased by changing the wettability of boundary surface.