Intrinsic Incompatibility: Why Static Droplets Cannot Exist in Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes Systems

TL;DR

This paper proves that static droplets cannot be represented in Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes models due to fundamental incompatibilities, explaining longstanding paradoxes in phase-field simulations of multiphase flows.

Contribution

It provides a rigorous theoretical proof showing the impossibility of static droplets in these models, revealing an intrinsic limitation of phase-field approaches.

Findings

Static droplets cannot exist in Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes systems.

Equilibrium requires uniform chemical potential, contradicting Laplace's law.

Explains phenomena like droplet shrinkage and parasitic currents.

Abstract

Static droplets serve as fundamental benchmarks for interface-resolved simulations of two-phase flows. However, their accurate representation in phase-field models remains elusive due to persistent numerical artifacts. This work rigorously proves that static droplets cannot exist in phase-field models governed by the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes equations. Through equilibrium analysis of the governing equations, we demonstrate that equilibrium necessitates uniform chemical potential, which nullifies the interfacial force, enforcing a uniform pressure field. This directly contradicts the pressure jump required by Laplace's law for a curved interface, proving mechanical equilibrium is impossible. The results reveal an intrinsic incompatibility between non-flat equilibrium interfaces and the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system, provides a fundamental theoretical explanation for long-standing paradoxes such as droplet shrinkage and parasitic currents. This fundamental limitation applies universally to droplets/bubbles and necessitates re-evaluation of phase-field models for multiphase systems.