Numerical Analysis of Droplet Dynamics Under Different Temperature and Cross-Flow Velocity Conditions

Abstract

Numerical investigations have been performed to investigate the dynamics of a single liquid droplet formation in another immiscible cross-flow liquid for different values of cross-flow velocities and temperature difference between the two phases. The transient growth of the droplet and detachment time have been calculated by solving Navier-Stokes equation for two-phase flow using coupled level-set and volume of fluid method. The effect of temperature on surface tension has been incorporated in numerical simulation by modeling the surface tension as a linear function of temperature. The effects of cross-flow velocity and temperature in the evolution and detachment of the droplet have been investigated from the balance of different forces acting on the system. With the increase in cross-flow velocity, the diameter of the droplet decreases and droplet detachment time increases. While with the increase in cross-flow temperature, both the diameter and detachment time decreases.