Self-propulsion dynamics of small droplets on general surfaces with curvature gradient

Abstract

We study theoretically the self-propulsion dynamics of a small droplet on general curved surfaces by a variational approach. A new reduced model is derived based on careful computations for the capillary energy and the viscous dissipation in the system. The model describes quantitatively the spontaneous motion of a liquid droplet on general surfaces. In particular, it recovers previous models for droplet motion on the outside surface of a cone. In this case, we derive a scaling law of the displacement $s\sim t^{1/3}$ of a droplet with respect to time $t$ by asymptotic analysis. Theoretical results are in good agreement with experiments in previous literature without adjusting the friction coefficient in the model.