Boundary vorticity dynamics of two-phase viscous flow

TL;DR

This paper derives exact relations for boundary vorticity dynamics in two-phase viscous flows with diffuse interfaces and demonstrates their application through simulating droplet impact and spreading on a wall.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical framework linking surface physical quantities and applies it to simulate complex droplet-wall interactions.

Findings

Distribution of shear stress, pressure, and enstrophy flux analyzed at the interface.

Simulation reveals detailed physics of droplet impact and spreading.

New insights into interfacial phenomena during droplet impingement.

Abstract

From the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg (NSK) equations, the exact relations between the fundamental surface physical quantities for two-phase viscous flow with diffuse interface are derived, including density gradient, shear stress, vorticity, pressure, enstrophy flux and surface curvature. These theoretical results provide a solid foundation of the boundary/interfacial vorticity dynamics and a new tool for analysis of complex interfacial phenomena in two-phase viscous flows. To demonstrate the application of the developed results, simulation of a droplet impacting and spreading on a solid wall is conducted by using a recently developed well-balanced discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (WB-DUGKS), focusing on spreading process when the separation bubbles form inside the droplet. The distributions of shear stress, pressure and enstrophy flux at the interface and wall are analyzed, particularly near the moving contact points and other characteristic points. This example gives an unique perspective to the physics of droplet impingement on a wall.