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Numerical approximation of a phase-field surfactant model with fluid flow
Modelling interfacial dynamics with soluble surfactants in a multiphase
system is a challenging task. Here, we consider the numerical approximation of
a phase-field surfactant model with fluid flow. The nonlinearly coupled model
consists of two Cahn-Hilliard-type equations and incompressible Navier-Stokes
equation. With the introduction of two auxiliary variables, the governing
system is transformed into an equivalent form, which allows the nonlinear
potentials to be treated efficiently and semi-explicitly. By certain subtle
explicit-implicit treatments to stress and convective terms, we construct first
and second-order time marching schemes, which are extremely efficient and
easy-to-implement, for the transformed governing system. At each time step, the
schemes involve solving only a sequence of linear elliptic equations, and
computations of phase-field variables, velocity and pressure are fully
decoupled. We further establish a rigorous proof of unconditional energy
stability for the first-order scheme. Numerical results in both two and three
dimensions are obtained, which demonstrate that the proposed schemes are
accurate, efficient and unconditionally energy stable. Using our schemes, we
investigate the effect of surfactants on droplet deformation and collision
under a shear flow, where the increase of surfactant concentration can enhance
droplet deformation and inhibit droplet coalescence
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