Unsteady Deformation and Internal Circulation of a Liquid Drop in a Zero Gravity Uniform Flow

Abstract

Numerical simulation of the internal and external flow fields of a liquid drop moving in the surrounding gas are considered. The present work is concerned with the time accurate numerical solution of a two phase flow field at the low Mach number limit with an appropriate volume tracking method to capture motion and deformation of a liquid drop. In particular, deformation of a liquid drop moving with a coflowing gas stream in a zero gravity field is simulated. The effects of the gas flow Reynolds number and drop Weber number on the deformation dynamics of the drop have been investigated. There appears to be a critical gas stream Reynolds number, at moderate drop Weber numbers, below which the coflowing drop takes on an oblate cap shape and above which it forms an arrow head shape. It has been shown that an observer moving with the average velocity of the liquid drop sees interesting recirculatory flow patterns inside the drop.