Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T19:27:52.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A singularly altered streamline topology allows faster transport from deformed drops

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2024

Pavan Kumar Singeetham
Affiliation:
Engineering Mechanics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore 560064, India
Sumesh P. Thampi
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
Ganesh Subramanian*
Affiliation:
Engineering Mechanics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore 560064, India
*
†Email address for correspondence: sganesh@jncasr.ac.in

Abstract

We analyse the effect of drop-deformation-induced change in streamline topology on the scalar transport rate (the Nusselt number $Nu$) in an ambient planar linear flow. The drop-phase resistance is assumed dominant, and the drop deformation is characterised by the capillary number ($Ca$). For a spherical drop ($Ca = 0$) in an ambient planar extension, closed streamlines lead to $Nu$ increasing with the Péclet number ($Pe$), from $Nu_0$, corresponding to purely diffusive transport, to $4.1Nu_0$, corresponding to a large-$Pe$ diffusion-limited plateau. For non-zero $Ca$, we show that the flow field consists of spiralling streamlines densely wound around nested tori foliating the deformed drop interior. Now $Nu$ increases beyond the aforementioned primary plateau, saturating in a secondary one that approaches $22.3Nu_0$ for $Ca \rightarrow 0$, $Pe\,Ca \rightarrow \infty$. The enhancement appears independent of the drop-to-medium viscosity ratio. We further show that this singular dependence, of the transport rate on drop deformation, is generic across planar linear flows; chaotically wandering streamlines in some of these cases may even lead to a tertiary enhancement regime.

Information

Type
JFM Papers
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1.Members of the one-parameter planar linear flow family: (a) solid-body rotation ($\beta =-1$), (b) an elliptic linear flow with $\beta =-0.5$, (c) a hyperbolic planar linear flow with $\beta =0.5$ and (d) planar extension ($\beta =1$).

Figure 1

Figure 2.Schematic of a slightly deformed drop (of undeformed radius $a$) suspended in an ambient hyperbolic planar linear flow.

Figure 2

Figure 3.Comparison of $Nu_0(\tau )/Nu_{0}(\tau \rightarrow \infty )$ obtained from the Langevin simulations for $Pe=0$ with the exact analytical solution, $(2/3 ) (\sum _{n=1}^{\infty } \textrm {e}^{-n^2 {\rm \pi}^2 \tau } )/( \sum _{n=1}^{\infty } {\textrm {e}^{-n^2 {\rm \pi}^2 \tau }}/{n^2 {\rm \pi}^2})$ (Kronig & Brink 1951), and the corresponding short-time asymptote $3/({\rm \pi} ^2\sqrt {{\rm \pi} \tau })$.

Figure 3

Figure 4.(a) Closed streamlines in a spherical drop octant ($Ca=0$, $\lambda =1$), in an ambient planar extension, along with the corresponding in-plane streamlines (black); the black dotted fixed-point circle corresponds to $E=-0.1628$, $D\in [0,0.5706]$. Inset (i) shows the inplane streamline pattern; inset (ii) shows all streamlines as ordered pairs on the $D$–$E$ plane (same colour code as the main plot). (b) Plot of $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_0$ vs $Pe$ for planar extension ($Ca = 0$, $\lambda =1$); the $Nu(\tau )/Nu_0$-curves appear in an inset.

Figure 4

Figure 5.(a) A pair of spiralling streamlines, in a deformed-drop octant, for an ambient planar extension, for $Ca=0.005$, $\lambda =1$: the blue and magenta curves correspond to initial points $(0.7,0,0.05)$ and $(0.5,0,0.3)$, respectively, with black arrows indicating the direction of spiralling; the dark green curve is the inner limiting torus. (b) Same streamlines as curves in the $D$–$E$ plane; insets highlight the two-time-scale structure of the $D$–$E$ plane curves, and the decreasing amplitude of the fast wiggles when $Ca$ reduces from $0.005$ to $0.001$. (c) $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_{0}$ vs $Pe\,Ca(1+\lambda )^{-1}$ for various $Ca$ for an ambient planar extension; $\triangledown$ and $\bigcirc$ correspond to $\lambda =0$ and $1$, respectively. Inset shows the corresponding curves from BEM-cum-Langevin simulations for $Ca = 0.005$ (compared with the $O(Ca)$ theory to illustrate good agreement) and $Ca= 0.04$; the double-headed arrows indicate the lengths of the respective primary plateaus.

Figure 5

Figure 6.(a) Angle-averaged concentration profiles corresponding to the slowest decaying eigenmodes, plotted as a function of $r$, for pure diffusion ($Pe = 0$; $c(r) \propto {\sin ({\rm \pi} r)}/{r}$) and for an ambient ambient planar extension; $Pe=10^{6}$, $\lambda =1$ in the latter case. (b) The angle-averaged concentration profiles, as a function of radial distance $r$, for the slowest decaying eigenmodes for $Ca=0$ ($\lambda = 1$, $Pe = 3000$) and $0.001$ ($\lambda = 1$, $Pe = 3000$, $10^8$), for an ambient planar extension.

Figure 6

Figure 7.Concentration contours for an ambient planar extension, at the cross-section $x_{3}=0.5$, for (a) $Ca=0$, $Pe=5 \times 10^{6}$, $\lambda =1$ and (b) $Ca=0.001$, $Pe=10^{8}$, $\lambda =1$; colour bars on the right-hand side denote concentration magnitudes. Magenta dots denote the intersections of the zero-$Ca$ fixed-point circles with the plane $x_3 = 0.5$, and correlate with the concentration maxima in (a). Red dots, corresponding to the intersections of the innermost torus (singular curve), for $Ca =0.001$, correlate with the maxima in (b); all interior streamlines are depicted as black curves.

Figure 7

Figure 8.Closed streamlines within a spherical drop ($Ca = 0$), in an ambient planar linear flow with $\beta =0.5$; $\lambda =1$. (a) The inplane streamline pattern serves to demarcate three invariant regions (regions $1$, $2$ and $3$), separated by pairs of homoclinic (regions $1$ and $2$) and heteroclinic (regions $2$ and $3$) orbits which are shown as solid black curves; the expressions for the threshold angles $\phi _1$ and $\phi _2$ indicated, in terms of $\beta$ and $\lambda$, are given in the text; $\phi _{1}=58.19^{\circ }$ and $\phi _{2}=24.09^{\circ }$ in the figure. (b) and (c) Depictions of the three-dimensional closed streamlines in the three different regions; each of these subfigures includes a pair of black dotted curves corresponding to the fixed-point circles. The streamlines (in red and blue) that encircle the fixed-point circles appear in (b); those (in pink) whose projections onto the $x_1$–$x_2$ plane encircle the drop centre appear in (c). (d) Plot of $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_{0}$ vs $Pe$, for $\lambda = 1$, for a drop immersed in different members of the planar linear flow family, ranging from simple shear flow ($\beta =0$) to planar extension ($\beta =1$), for $Ca =0$; the primary plateau values have been indicated.

Figure 8

Figure 9.(a) A finite-$Ca$ spiralling streamline, within a deformed-drop hemisphere, in an ambient planar linear flow with $\beta =0.5$; $Ca=0.01$, $\lambda =1$. The streamline starts from $(x_1,x_2,x_3) \equiv (0.01,0.05,0.1)$, with black arrows indicating the direction of spiralling in different regions of the drop hemisphere; the black dashed curve denotes the deformed drop profile in the $x_1$–$x_2$ plane, with the pair of black dotted curves denoting fixed-point circles. (b) Continuation of the spiralling streamline in (a) for longer times. Note that the colour of the spiralling streamline in both (a) and (b) changes in accordance with the region that it samples; the colour-coding follows figure 8(a–c). (c) The apparently chaotic region crossings, of a single finite-$Ca$ streamline, starting from $(0.01, 0.05, 0.2)$, illustrated via a $\phi$ vs $\tau$ plot for $\beta =0.5$, $\lambda =1$ and $Ca=0.005$; $\tau =Ca\,t$. Numerical labels denote the particular region of the zero-$Ca$ streamline pattern sampled (see figure 8a); accompanying insets highlight the multiple time scale structure of the finite-$Ca$ streamline.

Figure 9

Figure 10.Plot of $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_{0}$ vs $Pe\,Ca$, for $\lambda = 1$, for a drop immersed in different members of the planar linear flow family; circles ($\circ$) and crosses ($\times$) correspond to $Ca=0.001$ and $0.005$, respectively.

Figure 10

Figure 11.The concentration profiles corresponding to steady state (due to a spatially uniform source), and that corresponding to the slowest decaying eigenmode, as a function of radial distance $r$: (a) pure diffusion ($c(r)\propto {(1-r^2)}/{6}$ and $c(r)\propto {\sin ({\rm \pi} r)}/{r}$) and (b) an ambient planar extension ($Pe=10^{6}$, $\lambda =1$).

Figure 11

Figure 12.(a) Plot of $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_0$ vs $Pe$ for an axisymmetric biaxial extension for $Ca = 0$; the inset shows the closed streamline pattern in a meridional plane, with black arrows denoting the direction of circulation, along with the concentration contours. (b) Plot of $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_{0}$ vs $Pe\,Ca$, for various $Ca$ and $\lambda = 1$, for a deformed drop in an axisymmetric biaxial extension; the inset emphasises the invariance of the closed-streamline pattern, and the concentration contours, to drop deformation. Both insets correspond to $Pe=10^{8}$, $\lambda =1$.

Figure 12

Figure 13.Taylor deformation parameter $D_{T}$ as a function of $t$ for planar extension; $Ca=0.004$, $\lambda =1$. The number of surface elements and interpolation points used in the BEM simulations are indicated; the solid blue line is the deformation parameter based on $O(Ca)$ theory, given by $D_{T} =\displaystyle 2 Ca \,b_{1}^{(1)}(1- \exp ({40 (1+\lambda ) t }/{(2 \lambda +3)(19 \lambda +16)} ) )$.

Figure 13

Figure 14.Comparison between $O(Ca)$ theory and BEM simulations. Here, each row corresponds to a fixed $Ca$ (row $1$, $Ca=0.01$; row $2$, $Ca=0.02$; row $3$, $Ca=0.03$; row $4$, $Ca=0.04$). First column, drop profiles in the $x_{1}$–$x_{2}$ plane; second column, $r-1$ vs $\phi$ in the $x_{1}$–$x_{2}$ plane; third column, Taylor deformation parameter $D_{T}$ vs $t$.

Figure 14

Figure 15.Taylor deformation parameter as a function of $Ca$ for a planar extension, with $\lambda =1$: $\triangle$, present work with $N=20\,480$ and $13$ interpolation points; $\diamond$, Rallison (1981) with $N=230$ (Rallison 1981); $\cdots$, $O(Ca)$ theory; $\triangledown$, $O(Ca^2)$ theory (Barthes-Biesel & Acrivos 1973). Note that the capillary numbers in the previous efforts have been converted to the present definition for purposes of the comparison shown.

Figure 15

Figure 16.Comparison of $\lim _{\tau \rightarrow \infty } Nu/Nu_{0}$ plotted as a function of $Pe\,Ca$ for $Ca=0.005$, $\lambda =1$, for planar extension: the BEM curves corresponding to $5120$, $8192$ and $20\,480$ elements, with $13$ interpolation points, are compared with the $Nu$-curve based on the $O(Ca)$ velocity field; the inset shows the approach towards the $O(Ca)$ theory.

Figure 16

Figure 17.Interior streamlines characterised via $x_{1}$ vs $\tau$, $x_{2}$ vs $\tau$ and $x_{3}$ vs $\tau$ plots, with $\tau = Ca\,t$, for various $Ca$ and $\lambda =1$; all curves start from the point $(x_1,x_2,x_3) \equiv (0.4222,0.2679,0.3)$. The red and green curves are obtained using BEM simulations, while the blue curve corresponds to the $O(Ca)$ theory: (a–c) $Ca=0.005$, (d–f) $Ca=0.01$, (g–i) $Ca=0.02$ and (j–l) $Ca=0.03$. All streamlines have a two-time-scale structure, as evident from the short-time oscillations shown via insets in the first column.

Figure 17

Figure 18.Finite-$Ca$ streamlines and $Nu$ vs $Pe$ curves for $\lambda = 1$. Each row of this figure corresponds to a given $Ca$: row $1$, $Ca=0.005$; row $2$, $Ca=0.01$; row $3$, $Ca=0.04$. The first column (a, d and g) shows portions of a given BEM finite-$Ca$ streamline in physical space, starting from $(0.5,0,0.225)$, to highlight its deviation from a given invariant torus for the two smaller $Ca$ values: the dashed and solid magenta curves, respectively, denote portions of the streamline during its first and second circuits. The second column (b, e and h) shows $x_1$ vs $\tau$ plots, highlighting the spurious drift of the BEM streamline (pink) onto a limiting torus, for sufficiently long times, for $Ca=0.005$ and $0.01$. The third column (c, f and i) depicts $Nu$ vs $Pe$ curves; insets in (c) and (f) help highlight the better agreement with $O(Ca)$ theory for $Ca = 0.01$.