On the distinguished limits of the Navier slip model of the moving contact line problem

Abstract

When a droplet spreads on a solid substrate, it is unclear what are the correct boundary conditions to impose at the moving contact line. The classical no-slip condition is generally acknowledged to lead to a non-integrable singularity at the moving contact line, for which a slip condition, associated with a small slip parameter, $\lambda$, serves to alleviate. In this paper, we discuss what occurs as the slip parameter, $\lambda$, tends to zero. In particular, we explain how the zero-slip limit should be discussed in consideration of two distinguished:: one where time is held constant $t = O(1)$, and one where time tends to infinity at the rate $t = O(|\log \lambda|)$. The crucial result is that in the case where time is held constant, the $\lambda \to 0$ limit converges to the slip-free equation, and contact line slippage occurs as a regular perturbative effect. However, if $\lambda \to 0$ and $t \to \infty$, then contact line slippage is a leading-order singular effect.