Modeling drop deformations and rheology of dilute to dense emulsions

TL;DR

This paper reviews current modeling approaches for emulsion rheology, emphasizing analytical, numerical, and computational methods to connect microscopic drop deformation with macroscopic flow properties.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of modeling techniques and challenges in linking drop deformation and emulsion rheology across dilute to dense systems.

Findings

Quantitative descriptions of rheological responses using analytical theories.

Identification of key material properties and dimensionless parameters.

Progress in computational fluid dynamics for emulsion modeling.

Abstract

We highlight the current state-of-the-art in modeling emulsion rheology, ranging from dilute to jammed dense systems. We focus on analytical and numerical methods developed for calculating, computing, and tracking drop deformation en route to developing constitutive models for flowing emulsions. We identify material properties and dimensionless parameters, collate the small deformation theories and resulting expressions for viscometric quantities, list theoretical and numerical methods, and take stock of challenges for capturing connections between drop deformation, morphology, and rheology of emulsions. We highlight the substantial progress in providing quantitative descriptions of the rheological response using analytical theories, dimensional analysis, and powerful computational fluid dynamics to determine how macroscopic rheological properties emerge from microscopic features, including deformation and dynamics of non-interacting or interacting drops and molecular aspects that control the interfacial properties.