Role of the Moving Contact Line in the Fragmentation of Vibrated Sessile Drops

  • Shams, Mosayeb (Imperial College London)
  • Panda, Debashis (Imperial College London)
  • Matar, Omar (Imperial College London)

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Fragmentation of vibrated sessile drops is central to applications ranging from coating and printing to atomisation and thermal management. Although resonance-driven shape oscillations are known to precede break-up, the pathway to fragmentation can be strongly influenced by the moving contact line, which regulates dissipation and sets the dynamics of the wetted area. Here we quantify how contact-line mobility and hysteresis modify the onset of fragmentation and the break-up scenario under vertical excitation. Direct numerical simulations are performed using Basilisk, solving the incompressible two-phase Navier–Stokes equations with a volume-of-fluid interface-capturing method, and adaptive mesh refinement to resolve the oscillating meniscus and possible pinch-off. The solid boundary is modelled through a dynamic hysteresis-aware contact-line model that prescribes the evolution of the apparent contact angle, allowing for controlled variation of (i) contact-line mobility and (ii) static hysteresis width. By systematically sweeping the forcing frequency and acceleration together with these wetting parameters, we map the regimes of pinned response, periodic footprint motion, and fragmentation. We quantify the wetted area motion, contact-angle oscillations, and energy budget over each cycle, and relate these measures to interfacial stretching, rim thinning, and neck formation. Break-up is identified through the first pinch-off event. The resulting regime map distinguishes pinned, partially mobile, and fully mobile contact-line responses and provides a description of the fragmentation boundary in parameter space. By comparing simulations across mobility and hysteresis, we present how increased mobility redistributes dissipation, modifies phase relationships between contact-line motion and bulk deformation, and either promotes or delays the development of thin liquid bridges that precede pinch-off.