Two local slip modes at the liquid–liquid interface over liquid-infused surfaces

A liquid–liquid interface (LLI) at liquid-infused surfaces (LISs) plays a significant role in promoting slip flow and reducing frictional drag. By employing the transverse many-body dissipative particle dynamics simulations, the behavior of local and effective slip at a flat LLI for shear flows over periodically grooved LISs has been studied. With increasing viscosity ratio between the working fluid and lubricant fluid, two local slip modes are identified. For a small viscosity ratio, the local slip length remains finite along the LLI, while a hybrid local slip boundary condition holds along the LLI for large viscosity ratios, i.e., the local slip length is finite near the groove edge and unbounded in the central region of the LLI. The vortical flow inside the groove can be enhanced by increasing viscosity ratio due to the change in the local slip mode from the finite state to the hybrid one. Moreover, the results suggest two scenarios for the variation of the effective slippage. For LISs with a large LLI fraction, the effective slip length increases significantly with increasing viscosity ratio, while for a small LLI fraction, the effective slippage is rather insensitive to the viscosity ratio. The underlying mechanism for the relationship between the effective slip length and the viscosity ratio for different LLI fractions is revealed based on the two slip modes. These results elucidate the effect of LLI on slip boundary conditions and might serve as a guide for the optimal design of LISs with enhanced slip properties.