Anisotropy of water droplets on single rectangular posts

We report results of extensive experimental and numerical studies of the anisotropy of water drops deposited on single rectangular posts of mesoscopic size sculpted on different materials. Drops of different volume deposited on the top face of the posts assume an elongated shape along the post direction.

Systematic investigations show that while the angle measured along the direction parallel to the post does not change, the one measured across them increases monotonically with the drop volume. The difference in these two angles is found to be proportional to the contact line eccentricity even for very elongated drops, regardless of the post size and material.

Results obtained with the lattice Boltzmann method are consistent with these observations and indicate useful trends on the evolution of the drop shape with the system main parameters. We argue that drops deposited on single posts having a very sharp profile represent an ideal model system to investigate anisotropic wetting.