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LETTERS
The purpose of this Letters section is to provide rapid dissemination of important new results in the fields regularly covered by
Physics of Fluids. Results of extended research should not be presented as a series of letters in place of comprehensive articles.
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Drop breakup in viscous flows has been the subject of points. Marker point velocities are obtained by solving a
several experimental investigations.1 However, comprehen- second-kind boundary-integral equation over the drop
sive numerical simulations of this phenomenon are present in surfaces.7 The equation is recast into a singularity-subtracted
the literature only for axisymmetric flows.1 form for efficient numerical integration,8 and solved by
Three-dimensional boundary integral algorithms have simple iterations after purging the eigensolutions.7 The nor-
been developed for predicting critical conditions for breakup mal vector and curvature on the drop interfaces are calcu-
of an isolated drop in steady shear flow.24 Breakup was lated by a local surface-fitting algorithm.5 Our numerical cal-
inferred by the nonexistence of a steady three-dimensional culations are O(1/N) accurate.
shape. More recent simulations suggest that drop breakup Previous three-dimensional boundary-integral algo-
may occur as the result of pair interactions in buoyancy.5 rithms rely on surface discretization with fixed topology,
However, detailed three-dimensional simulations of drop where the number of marker points and their connections are
breakup have been hampered by the difficulties of accurately kept constant during a simulation. However, the number of
resolving highly deformed drop interfaces. marker points and the optimal connections needed to accu-
The algorithm presented herein overcomes this obstacle rately resolve the interface depend strongly on the instanta-
and provides the capability for detailed simulations of three- neous drop shape. At only modest deformations, a fixed
dimensional drop breakup. Such simulations are needed for computational grid becomes highly strained;8 highly de-
reliable determination of: ~1! breakup criteria in steady and formed shapes cannot be described. The adaptive surface dis-
time-dependent flows, ~2! breakup times for calculating cretization that we have developed removes these difficul-
breakup rates,6 and ~3! drop fragments for predicting drop ties. ~An alternative grid-restructuring algorithm has been
size distributions. recently proposed by Yon and Pozrikidis.9!
Here we use our new algorithm to study the detailed In our algorithm, the resolution of solid angle is kept
process of drop breakup in shear flow and in buoyancy mo- uniform over the drop surface, and is maintained constant
tion. during the simulation. For this purpose a marker-point den-
Under Stokes flow conditions, drop dynamics are char- sity function
acterized by the capillary number, the Bond number, and the
viscosity ratio: n ~ k ! 5C 0 k 2 ~2!
mg a D r ga 2
m
Ca5 , Bo5 , l5 , ~1! is introduced, where k is the local curvature and C 0 is a
s s m
constant that determines the resolution of the interface. We
where m and m are the viscosities of the continuous and model the grid as a dynamical system of damped massless
dispersed phases, s is the interfacial tension, Dr is the den- springs connecting the marker points: each spring has a ten-
sity contrast between the two phases, g is the acceleration of sion l2l 0 , where l is the instantaneous edge length and
gravity, g is the imposed shear rate, and a is the undeformed l 0 ;n 21/2 is the equilibrium length. Equilibration velocities
drop radius. Surface tension gradients associated with ad- of the marker points are determined as the resultant of local
sorbed surfactant are omitted. spring tensions projected onto the drop interface. The system
The evolution of a deformable drop is described by time of springs has well-defined minimum-energy equilibrium
integrating the fluid velocity on a set of N interfacial marker states corresponding to zero equilibration velocities of all
and by increasing the drop-relaxation time by 6%. The pre- Our algorithm can be generalized. For example, the
dictions closely match the experimental results shown in marker-point density function ~2! can be modified to resolve
Fig. 1. the lubrication flow between closely spaced drops in concen-
In buoyancy-driven motion an isolated spherical drop trated emulsions.8
remains spherical. However, finite surface tension is required Drop pinch-off occurs with nearly constant neck-
for a deformed drop to regain its spherical shape. Thus for thinning velocity15 ;s/m. Thus, the algorithm presented in
Bo5O(1) interaction-induced breakup can occur. this letter can be used to predict breakup rates using breakup
During pair interactions, the smaller drop deforms more times obtained by extrapolation. The results of such calcula-
and is thus more likely to burst. Drop ~1! imparts a viscous tions have application to systems such as sub-Kolmogorov
stress t 12 ;D r ga 31 /r 2 on drop ~2! at distance r. The restor- drops in turbulent liquid-liquid dispersions,6 where the Rey-
ing stress on drop ~2! is s /a 2 . The induced deformation of nolds number based on drop size is small.
drop ~2! is D 2 ; t 12 /( s /a 2 ). Similarly, D 1 ; t 21 / It should be possible to continue numerical simulations
( s /a 1 ). Thus, we find D 2 /D 1 5(a 1 /a 2 ) 2 . beyond the breakup event to describe the evolving drop size
Figure 2 depicts a drop breaking as a result of pair in- distribution in viscous multiphase flows.
teraction in buoyancy-driven motion. As shown in the first
two frames, lubrication stresses between the deformed drops ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
prevent coalescence; the smaller drop slides past the larger
one. The third frame shows the smaller drop highly stretched We gratefully acknowledge the experimental data pro-
in the straining flow behind the larger one. Surface tension is vided by Dr. Stefano Guido. This work was supported by
too weak for the drop to recover: it continues to stretch under NSF Grant No. CTS-9624615 and NASA Grant No. NAG3-
the action of buoyancy. As illustrated in the last two frames, 1935.
a neck forms and pinches off under the action of surface
tension. The sequence shown in Fig. 2 is consistent with our a!
Permanent address: IPPT PAN, Swietokrzyska 21, 00-049 Warsaw, Po-
observations of centimeter-size silicon-oil drops breaking in land.
1
corn syrup. H. A. Stone, Dynamics of drop deformation and breakup in viscous
fluids, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 26, 65 ~1994!.
As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the grid remains well- 2
J. M. Rallison, A numerical study of the deformation and burst of a
structured during the entire simulation. Nearly equilateral tri- viscous drop in general linear shear flows, J. Fluid Mech. 109, 465
angles are maintained by edge reconnection and local equili- ~1981!.
3
bration. As drop deformation increases, marker points are R. A. de Bruijn, Deformation and Breakup of drops in simple shear
flows, Ph.D. thesis, Technical University at Eindhoven, 1989.
continuously added ~and subtracted! to guarantee constant 4
M. R. Kennedy, C. Pozrikidis, and R. Skalak, Motion and deformation of
interface resolution according to the density function ~2!. For liquid drops and the rheology of dilute emulsions in simple shear flow,
the simulation depicted in Fig. 1, only 162 marker points are Comput. Fluids 23, 251 ~1994!.
5
A. Z. Zinchenko, M. A. Rother, and R. H. Davis, A novel boundary-
used for the initial discretization of the spherical drop ~t 50!; integral algorithm for viscous interaction of deformable drops, Phys.
in the last frame of Fig. 1, where pinch-off is imminent, Fluids 9, 1493 ~1997!.
6
N'3500. L. Collins, J. Bawzdziewicz, V. Cristini, and M. Loewenberg, Drop
The success of the new algorithm is most clearly illus- deformation and breakup in isotropic turbulence, 121e, AIChE Annual
Meeting, Los Angeles, 1997 ~unpublished!.
trated by the inset in the last frame of Fig. 2, which reveals 7
C. Pozrikidis, Boundary Integral and Singularity Methods for Linearized
the neck of the breaking drop. The neck width is approxi- Viscous Flow ~Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992!.
8
mately 1% of the initial drop size and yet the local surface M. Loewenberg and E. J. Hinch, Numerical simulation of a concentrated
resolution is the same as for the modestly deformed drops emulsion in shear flows, J. Fluid Mech. 321, 395 ~1996!.
9
C. Pozrikidis ~personal communication!.
shown in the first frame. In principle, our new algorithm can 10
S. O. Unverdi and G. Tryggvason, A front-tracking method for viscous,
describe any drop shape, the only limitation being computa- incompressible, multi-fluid flows, J. Comput. Phys. 100, 25 ~1992!.
11
tional expense. M. Loewenberg and E. J. Hinch, Collision of deformable drops in shear-
flow, J. Fluid Mech. 338, 299 ~1997!.
We developed a new boundary-integral algorithm that 12
S. Guido and M. Simeone, Binary collision of drops in simple shear flow
involves adaptive grid restructuring which allows detailed by computer-assisted video optical microscopy, J. Fluid Mech. 357, 1
numerical simulations of drop breakup in viscous flows. ~1998!.
13
Here the algorithm has been used to study drop breakup in S. Guido and M. Villone, Three dimensional shape of a drop under
simple shear flow, J. Rheol. 42, 395 ~1998!.
shear flow and in buoyancy. The numerical predictions have 14
S. Guido ~personal communication!.
been compared with experimental measurements of drop 15
J. Bawzdziewicz, V. Cristini, and M. Loewenberg, Analysis of drop
breakup in shear flow. breakup in creeping flows, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 42, 2125 ~1997!.