A lattice Boltzmann method for axisymmetric thermocapillary flows

In this work, we develop a two-phase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to simulate axisymmetric thermocapil- lary flows. This method simulates the immiscible axisymmetric two-phase flow by an improved color-gradient model, in which the single-phase collision, perturbation and recoloring operators are all presented with the axisymmetric effect taken into account in a simple and computational consistent manner. An additional lattice Boltzmann equation is introduced to describe the evolution of the axisymmetric temperature field, which is coupled to the hydrodynamic equations through an equation of state. This method is first validated by simulations of Rayleigh-B ́enard convection in a vertical cylinder and thermocapillary migration of a de- formable droplet at various Marangoni numbers. It is then used to simulate the thermocapillary migration of two spherical droplets in a constant applied temperature gradient along their line of centers, and the influence of the Marangoni number (Ca), initial distance between droplets (S0), and the radius ratio of the leading to trailing droplets (Λ) on the migration process is systematically studied. As Ma increases, the thermal wake behind the leading droplet strengthens, resulting in the transition of the droplet migration from coalescence to non-coalescence; and also, the final distance between droplets increases with Ma for the non-coalescence cases. The variation of S0 does not change the final state of the droplets although it has a direct impact on the migration process. In contrast, Λ can significantly influence the migration process of both droplets and their final state: at low Ma, decreasing Λ favors the coalescence of both droplets; at high Ma, the two droplets do not coalesce eventually but migrate with the same velocity for the small values of Λ, and decreasing Λ leads to a shorter equilibrium time and a faster migration velocity

A lattice Boltzmann method for axisymmetric multicomponent flows with high viscosity ratio

A color-gradient lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is proposed to simulate ax- isymmetric multicomponent flows. This method uses a collision operator that is a combination of three separate parts, namely single-component collision op- erator, perturbation operator, and recoloring operator. A source term is added into the single-component collision operator such that in each single-component region the axisymmetric continuity and momentum equations can be exactly re- covered. The interfacial tension effect is realized by the perturbation operator, in which an interfacial force of axisymmetric form is derived using the concept of continuum surface force. A recoloring operator proposed by Latva-Kokko and Rothman is extended to the axisymmetric case for phase segregation and maintenance of the interface. To enhance the method’s numerical stability for handling binary fluids with high viscosity ratio, a multiple-relaxation-time mod- el is used for the collision operator. Several numerical examples, including static droplet test, oscillation of a viscous droplet, and breakup of a liquid thread, are presented to test the capability and accuracy of the proposed color-gradient LB- M. It is found that the present method is able to accurately capture the phase interface and produce low spurious velocities. Also, the LBM results are all in good agreement with the analytical solutions and/or available experimental data for a very broad range of viscosity ratios