The present article presents a numerical investigation on the effect of thermal forcing for droplet formation in a T-junction. Thermal forcing, generated by a heater embedded into the channel wall, induces a non-uniform temperature field which results in the variation the fluids’ properties and affects the droplet formation process in a desirable manner. In the present article, droplet formation process is posed as an incompressible immiscible two-phase flow problem with the motion of the two-phases strongly coupled via the related interfacial conditions. It is governed by the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes and the energy equations. The interface is captured with a narrow-band particle level-set method. Solutions are obtained using a finite volume method on a staggered mesh. The numerical model is validated against droplet formation in a cross junction. With the formation of water droplet in oil within the squeezing formation regime as a case study, the physics underlying droplet formation process in a T-junction affected by a thermal forcing is investigated. The combined effect of variations in both viscosities and surface tension result in a larger droplet. It is believed that the behavior of fluids system under an imposed thermal forcing depends strongly on the characteristics of temperature dependent viscosities and surface tension.
3D numerical investigation of effects of density and surface tension on mixing time in bottom-blown gas-stirred ladles
