Slip over a lubricant impregnated surface in pressure-driven flow

Abstract

A novel non-wetting surface known as slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) or lubricant impregnated surface (LIS) has been reported recently. This work aims to investigate effective slip or drag reduction arising from pressure-driven flow through a microchannel bounded by SLIPS. Numerical simulation was performed for the flow of both the lubricating and working fluids inside and immediately outside the microtextured surface. The multiphase problem is solved using the front tracking method. In this method the interface is replaced by a transitional narrow zone, which has a thickness comparable to the mesh size, and the fluid properties such as density and viscosity are constructed according to the distance from the interface. SLIPS with various pattern lengths and lubricant liquid with different viscosities are calculated and compared.