  The dynamics of capillary filling in the presence of chemically coated
heterogeneous boundaries is investigated, both theoretically and numerically.
In particular, by mapping the equations of front motion onto the dynamics of a
dissipative driven oscillator, an analytical criterion for front pinning is
derived, under the condition of diluteness of the coating spots. The criterion
is tested against two dimensional Lattice Boltzmann simulations, and found to
provide satisfactory agreement as long as the width of the front interface
remains much thinner than the typical heterogeneity scale of the chemical
coating.
