Dynamical regimes of thermally convective emulsions

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Main Authors: Pelusi, Francesca, Scagliarini, Andrea, Sbragaglia, Mauro, Bernaschi, Massimo, Benzi, Roberto
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Pelusi, Francesca
Scagliarini, Andrea
Sbragaglia, Mauro
Bernaschi, Massimo
Benzi, Roberto
author_facet Pelusi, Francesca
Scagliarini, Andrea
Sbragaglia, Mauro
Bernaschi, Massimo
Benzi, Roberto
contents Emulsions are paramount in various interdisciplinary topical areas, yet a satisfactory understanding of their behavior in buoyancy-driven thermal flows has not been established. In the present work, we unravel the dynamical regimes of thermal convection in emulsions by leveraging a large set of mesoscale numerical simulations. Emulsions are prepared with a given volume fraction of the initially dispersed phase, $ϕ$, ranging from dilute (low values of $ϕ$) to jammed emulsions (high values of $ϕ$), resulting in different rheological responses of the emulsion, i.e., from Newtonian to non-Newtonian yield-stress behaviors, respectively. We then characterize the dynamics of the emulsions in the paradigmatic setup of the Rayleigh-Bénard convection, i.e., when confined between two parallel walls at different temperatures under the effect of buoyancy forces, the latter encoded in the dimensionless Rayleigh number Ra. We thoroughly investigated the dynamics of the emulsion in the changing of $ϕ$ and Ra. For a given $ϕ$, at increasing Ra, we observe that the emulsion exhibits convection states, where structural changes may appear (i.e., droplet breakup, coalescence or phase inversion), which inevitably impact the emulsion rheology. For sufficiently high values of Ra, two states of convection are observed: for low/moderate values of $ϕ$ (Newtonian emulsions), we observe breakup-dominated dynamics, whereas for high values of $ϕ$ (non-Newtonian emulsions), we observe phase-inverted states. For both scenarios, the droplet size distribution depends on Ra, and scaling laws for the average droplet size are analyzed and quantified. Our results offer insights into the rich dynamics of emulsions under thermal convection, offering the first detailed characterization of the various dynamic regimes to be expected and their relation with structural changes occurring in such complex fluids.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_11553
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamical regimes of thermally convective emulsions
Pelusi, Francesca
Scagliarini, Andrea
Sbragaglia, Mauro
Bernaschi, Massimo
Benzi, Roberto
Fluid Dynamics
Emulsions are paramount in various interdisciplinary topical areas, yet a satisfactory understanding of their behavior in buoyancy-driven thermal flows has not been established. In the present work, we unravel the dynamical regimes of thermal convection in emulsions by leveraging a large set of mesoscale numerical simulations. Emulsions are prepared with a given volume fraction of the initially dispersed phase, $ϕ$, ranging from dilute (low values of $ϕ$) to jammed emulsions (high values of $ϕ$), resulting in different rheological responses of the emulsion, i.e., from Newtonian to non-Newtonian yield-stress behaviors, respectively. We then characterize the dynamics of the emulsions in the paradigmatic setup of the Rayleigh-Bénard convection, i.e., when confined between two parallel walls at different temperatures under the effect of buoyancy forces, the latter encoded in the dimensionless Rayleigh number Ra. We thoroughly investigated the dynamics of the emulsion in the changing of $ϕ$ and Ra. For a given $ϕ$, at increasing Ra, we observe that the emulsion exhibits convection states, where structural changes may appear (i.e., droplet breakup, coalescence or phase inversion), which inevitably impact the emulsion rheology. For sufficiently high values of Ra, two states of convection are observed: for low/moderate values of $ϕ$ (Newtonian emulsions), we observe breakup-dominated dynamics, whereas for high values of $ϕ$ (non-Newtonian emulsions), we observe phase-inverted states. For both scenarios, the droplet size distribution depends on Ra, and scaling laws for the average droplet size are analyzed and quantified. Our results offer insights into the rich dynamics of emulsions under thermal convection, offering the first detailed characterization of the various dynamic regimes to be expected and their relation with structural changes occurring in such complex fluids.
title Dynamical regimes of thermally convective emulsions
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.11553