Efficient Numerical Modeling of Moving Contact Lines under Non-isothermal Conditions

ended

A moving contact line (MCL) is a moving line of intersection between a fluid/fluid interface and a solid wall. MCLs are central to a wide range of flows in nature and industry, however, their modeling has been a classical difficulty, especially under non-isothermal conditions. The project will tackle this challenge and we will develop a novel computational model enabling simulations of non-isothermal flows involving MCLs with unprecedented efficiency. The model borrows the idea from the large eddy simulation in turbulence modeling; it will resolve the macroscale flows only while model the effect of MCLs using non-isothermal hydrodynamic theories, which will also be developed in the present project. We expect that the model can lead to a reduction of computational effort by nine orders of magnitude for three-dimensional flows, compared with direct numerical simulations using a uniform grid, and it will therefore enable affordable simulations of practical flows in industry.