Numerical study of the critical drop size on a thin horizontal fiber: Effect of fiber shape and contact angle

作者：Wang Sheng^*; Desjardins Olivier

来源：Chemical Engineering Science, 2018, 187: 127-133.

DOI：10.1016/j.ces.2018.04.040

• Conservative level-set method
• Immersed boundary method
• Contact angle
• Liquid-gas flow
• Droplet
• Fiber

Fiber-based coalescers are widely used in the chemical industry to separate two immiscible fluids. Due to the complex structure inside a coalescer and the opaque nature of the fiber material, it is impractical to perform direct visualization and measurement of the multiphase flow inside a coalescer. One fundamental problem in understanding the physics inside a liquid-gas coalescer is to determine the maximum size of a drop that can attach and remain on a fiber. Previous studies (Hung and Yao, 1999; Lorenceau et al., 2004; Wang and Desjardins, 2018) have provided models to estimate the maximum size of a drop on a horizontal cylindrical fiber under gravity or cross-flow. However, it is not clear whether these models hold when the fiber shape and contact angle change. In this paper, we numerically investigate the critical drop size on a thin fiber with different shapes and contact angles, and provide a model that can be used for future coalescer modeling and design.

• 出版日期2018-9-21