Hydrodynamics calculations of clusters of drops using the finite volume method

Abstract

In this paper is described a numerical scheme that is used to simulate the coalescence process between clusters of water drops immersed in a continuous hydrocarbon phase (n-heptane). Two different values for the initial velocity of the drops were chosen. Depending of the initial velocity of collision some scenarios emerge, such as: permanent coalescence, formation of satellite drops etc. For some snap shots the streamlines are calculated for the different process of permanent coalescence. These streamlines allow the understanding of the dynamics of the droplets immersed on the n-heptane phase.