Droplet interaction in the spinodal decomposition of a fluid

Kumaran, V (1998) Droplet interaction in the spinodal decomposition of a fluid. In: The Journal of Chemical Physics, 109 (17). pp. 7644-7648.

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Abstract

The interaction between a pair of non-Brownian droplets in the spinodal decomposition of a binary fluid is examined. The interaction arises due to the convective term in the model H momentum equation, which is reciprocal to the convective term in the concentration equation. The dominant contribution to this convective term is due to the interface between the droplet and the matrix, where concentration gradients are large, and this contribution is determined in the limit where the distance between the droplets L is large compared to the radius of a droplet R. The force on the fluid due to the interfacial concentration gradient is first calculated, and it is found that there is a net force on the fluid only if there is a deviation of the interfacial concentration profile from the equilibrium profile. This deviation is related to the flux of solute at the interface, which is calculated correctly to (R/L)(2) for the interacting droplets. The average velocity of the droplets is then calculated by solving the momentum equations for the system. It is found that the interaction between the droplets does cause a spontaneous motion of the droplets towards each other.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	The Journal of Chemical Physics
Publisher:	American Institute Physics
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Institute Physics.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Chemical Engineering
Date Deposited:	01 Jun 2009 07:03
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:01
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/18429

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