Simulating surfactant effects in phase-transforming fluids

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Feng, Keyu, Mukherjee, Saikat, Hu, Tianyi, Gomez, Hector
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Feng, Keyu
Mukherjee, Saikat
Hu, Tianyi
Gomez, Hector
author_facet Feng, Keyu
Mukherjee, Saikat
Hu, Tianyi
Gomez, Hector
contents Surfactants are critical in natural processes and engineering, but measuring their concentrations in non-equilibrium conditions and in the presence of flow is difficult. Therefore, computational methods are a key tool for improving our understanding. Predicting the effect of surfactants on liquid-vapor transformations is particularly challenging due to (1) simultaneous mass transfer, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and Marangoni stresses, and (2) the phenomenological assumptions underlying many liquid-vapor phase-change models. Starting from the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg equations, a first-principles approach to liquid-vapor phase transformations, we developed a model of liquid-vapor flows with surfactants. We performed simulations of bubbles under equilibrium and liquid-vapor interface oscillations to demonstrate that the model successfully reproduces surfactant-mediated reductions in surface tension. We also investigated the mechanisms whereby surfactant affects bubble coalescence and condensation. Overall, this work provides a new framework for studying the effect of surfactants on liquid-vapor transformations and suggests multiple areas for future research, including the impact of complex surface chemistries on flow around bubbles and the acoustic response of bubbles with surfactants.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_09140
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simulating surfactant effects in phase-transforming fluids
Feng, Keyu
Mukherjee, Saikat
Hu, Tianyi
Gomez, Hector
Fluid Dynamics
Computational Physics
Surfactants are critical in natural processes and engineering, but measuring their concentrations in non-equilibrium conditions and in the presence of flow is difficult. Therefore, computational methods are a key tool for improving our understanding. Predicting the effect of surfactants on liquid-vapor transformations is particularly challenging due to (1) simultaneous mass transfer, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and Marangoni stresses, and (2) the phenomenological assumptions underlying many liquid-vapor phase-change models. Starting from the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg equations, a first-principles approach to liquid-vapor phase transformations, we developed a model of liquid-vapor flows with surfactants. We performed simulations of bubbles under equilibrium and liquid-vapor interface oscillations to demonstrate that the model successfully reproduces surfactant-mediated reductions in surface tension. We also investigated the mechanisms whereby surfactant affects bubble coalescence and condensation. Overall, this work provides a new framework for studying the effect of surfactants on liquid-vapor transformations and suggests multiple areas for future research, including the impact of complex surface chemistries on flow around bubbles and the acoustic response of bubbles with surfactants.
title Simulating surfactant effects in phase-transforming fluids
topic Fluid Dynamics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09140