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How interfacial tension enhances drag in turbulent Taylor–Couette flow with neutrally buoyant and equally viscous droplets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2024

Jinghong Su Open the ORCID record for Jinghong Su [Opens in a new window] ,
Yi-Bao Zhang Open the ORCID record for Yi-Bao Zhang [Opens in a new window] ,
Cheng Wang Open the ORCID record for Cheng Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Lei Yi Open the ORCID record for Lei Yi [Opens in a new window] ,
Fan Xu Open the ORCID record for Fan Xu [Opens in a new window] ,
Yaning Fan Open the ORCID record for Yaning Fan [Opens in a new window] ,
Junwu Wang Open the ORCID record for Junwu Wang [Opens in a new window]  and
Chao Sun Open the ORCID record for Chao Sun [Opens in a new window]
Jinghong Su
Affiliation:
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Combustion Energy, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, PR China
Yi-Bao Zhang
Affiliation:
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Combustion Energy, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, PR China
Cheng Wang
Affiliation:
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Combustion Energy, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, PR China
Lei Yi
Affiliation:
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Combustion Energy, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, PR China
Fan Xu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mesoscience and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 353, Beijing 100190, PR China
Yaning Fan
Affiliation:
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Combustion Energy, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, PR China
Junwu Wang*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mesoscience and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 353, Beijing 100190, PR China Beijing Key Laboratory of Process Fluid Filtration and Separation, College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, PR China
Chao Sun*
Affiliation:
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Combustion Energy, Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, PR China Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China
*
†Email addresses for correspondence: [email protected], [email protected]
†Email addresses for correspondence: [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

The presence of dispersed-phase droplets can result in a notable increase in a system's drag. However, our understanding of the mechanism underlying this phenomenon remains limited. In this study, we use three-dimensional direct numerical simulations with a modified multi-marker volume-of-fluid method to investigate liquid–liquid two-phase turbulence in a Taylor–Couette geometry. The dispersed phase has the same density and viscosity as the continuous phase. The Reynolds number $Re\equiv r_i\omega _i d/\nu$ is fixed at 5200, the volume fraction of the dispersed phase is up to $40\,\%$, and the Weber number $We\equiv \rho u^2_\tau d/\sigma$ is approximately 8. It is found that the increase in the system's drag originates from the contribution of interfacial tension. Specifically, droplets experience significant deformation and stretching in the streamwise direction due to shear near the inner cylinder. Consequently, the rear end of the droplets lags behind the fore head. This causes opposing interfacial tension effects on the fore head and rear end of the droplets. For the fore head of the droplets, the effect of interfacial tension appears to act against the flow direction. For the rear end, the effect appears to act in the flow direction. The increase in the system's drag is attributed primarily to the effect of interfacial tension on the fore head of the droplets which leads to the hindering effect of the droplets on the surrounding continuous phase. This hindering effect disrupts the formation of high-speed streaks, favouring the formation of low-speed ones, which are generally associated with higher viscous stress and drag of the system. This study provides new insights into the mechanism of drag enhancement reported in our previous experiments.

JFM classification

Multiphase and Particle-laden Flows: Multiphase flow Turbulent Flows: Turbulence simulation
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 1002 , 10 January 2025 , A2
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

‡

J.S. and Y.-B.Z. contributed equally to this work.

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