Hydrodynamics calculations of clusters of drops using the finite volume method

TL;DR

This paper presents a finite volume numerical scheme to simulate water drop cluster coalescence in n-heptane, revealing various collision outcomes and droplet dynamics through streamline analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel finite volume method for simulating droplet coalescence in hydrocarbon phases, with detailed flow analysis.

Findings

Different collision scenarios depend on initial velocities.

Streamline calculations elucidate droplet dynamics.

Coalescence outcomes include satellite drop formation.

Abstract

In this paper is described a numerical scheme that is used to simulate the coalescence process between clusters of water drops immersed in a continuous hydrocarbon phase (n-heptane). Two different values for the initial velocity of the drops were chosen. Depending of the initial velocity of collision some scenarios emerge, such as: permanent coalescence, formation of satellite drops etc. For some snap shots the streamlines are calculated for the different process of permanent coalescence. These streamlines allow the understanding of the dynamics of the droplets immersed on the n-heptane phase.