Wetting ridge dissipation at large deformations

Abstract: Liquid drops slide more slowly over soft, deformable substrates than over rigid solids. This phenomenon can be attributed to the viscoelastic dissipation induced by the moving wetting ridge, which inhibits a rapid motion, and is called "viscoelastic braking". Experiments on soft dynamical wetting have thus far been modelled using linear theory, assuming small deformations, which captures the essential scaling laws. Quantitatively, however, some important disparities have suggested the importance of large deformations induced by the sliding drops. Here we compute the dissipation occurring below a contact line moving at constant velocity over a viscoelastic substrate, for the first time explicitly accounting for large deformations. It is found that linear theory becomes inaccurate especially for thin layers, and we discuss our findings in the light of recent experiments.