PNNL

Abstract

The combination of short-range repulsive and long-range attractive forces in Many-body Dissipative Particle Dynamics (MDPD) is examined at a vapor/liquid and liquid/solid interface. Based on the radial distribution of the virial pressure in a drop at equilibrium, a systematic study is carried out to characterize the sensitivity of the surface tension coefficient with respect to the inter-particle interaction parameters. For the first time, this study highlights the approximately cubic dependence of the surface tension coefficient on the bulk density of the fluid. In capillary flow, MDPD solutions are shown to satisfy the condition on the wavelength of an axial disturbance leading to the pinch-off of a cylindrical liquid thread. Correctly, no pinch-off occurs below the cutoff wavelength. MDPD is augmented by a set of bell-shaped weight functions to model interaction with a solid wall. There, hydrophilic and hydrophobic behaviors, including the occurrence of slip in the latter, are reproduced using a modification in the weight function that avoids particle clustering. Finally, the dynamics of droplets entering an inverted Y-shaped fracture junction is correctly captured in simulations parameterized by the Bond number, proving the flexibility of MDPD in modeling interface-dominated flows.