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Equilibrium configurations of drops attached to spheres immersed in a uniform laminar flow
Author(s) -
Fan E. S. C.,
Bussmann M.,
Acosta E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.20414
Subject(s) - laminar flow , surface tension , mechanics , materials science , spheres , shear flow , flow (mathematics) , thread (computing) , thermodynamics , physics , engineering , mechanical engineering , astronomy
A computational fluid dynamics model has been developed to study the behaviour of a solid particle partially coated by an oil film and immersed in a uniform aqueous flow, to predict the equilibrium configurations of the film. The flow equations are solved using a finite volume approach, and the oil/water interface is captured using a Volume‐of‐Fluid method in 2D spherical coordinates. At Ca < < 1, shear forces are negligible, as interfacial tension maintains the oil film as a spherical cap. As Ca approaches 1, the shear forces overcome interfacial tension, stretching the oil film into a thread that eventually ruptures.