2023/12/08 by Ashwani Kumar Pal, Kirti Chandra Sahu, Pal, Ashwani Kumar +3
Engineering · Materials Science · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer #Nanomaterials and Printing Technologies #Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2312.04901
openalex publication_date 2023/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the interactions between two drops in a heated environment and analyze the effect of evaporation on bouncing, coalescence and reflexive separation phenomena. A reliable mass transfer model is incorporated in a coupled level-set and volume-of-fluid framework to accurately model the evaporation process and the evolution of drop interfaces during the interactions. The numerical technique is extensively validated against the benchmark problems involving the evaporation of a single drop. We analyze the contour plots of temperature and vapor mass fraction fields for each collision outcome. Our numerical simulations reveal that vapor entrapment during the separation process, with high-velocity vapor manages to escape. Increasing evaporation rates result in slower post-collision drop separation. Furthermore, the differences in kinetic energy and surface energy are analyzed for different Stefan numbers. The coalescence of drops exhibits energy oscillations until dissipation, while the bouncing and reflexive separations lack such oscillations. In the reflexive separation regime, the kinetic energy of the drops becomes zero after detachment.