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Surface tension driven flows in micro‐gravity conditions
Author(s) -
Strani M.,
Piva R.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.1650020405
Subject(s) - curvilinear coordinates , mechanics , surface tension , enclosure , flow (mathematics) , surface (topology) , free surface , computational fluid dynamics , tensor (intrinsic definition) , convection , boundary value problem , boundary (topology) , geometry , classical mechanics , physics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , computer science , thermodynamics , telecommunications
The importance of convective flows generated by surface tension gradients, in comparison with the ones generated by other driving forces, has been investigated in connection with space technological applications involving fluid processes. A theoretical model of the boundary conditions at the interface, considered free and diffusive, has been derived in general tensor form to allow for the use of non orthogonal curvilinear co‐ordinates. For the study of flow fields contained in enclosures, these co‐ordinates are more suitable to fit all teh boundaries, in particular near the contact angle between the interface and the solid walls, thus giving more accurate numerical solutions. A computational procedure to solve the complete set of bulk and surface equations is proposed and applied to a simplified two dimensional flow in a rectangular enclosure with a temperature gradient between the lateral walls. The numerical results show the importance of considering the interface to be deformable and diffusive for an accurate evaluation of the convective flow in the fluid bulk.