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Download filePhase-field theory of multicomponent incompressible Cahn-Hilliard liquids
journal contribution
posted on 03.11.2017, 11:58 authored by Gyula TothGyula Toth, Mojdeh Zarifi, Bjorn KvammeIn this paper a generalization of the Cahn-Hilliard theory of binary liquids is presented for
multi-component incompressible liquid mixtures. First, a thermodynamically consistent convection-diffusion type dynamics is derived on the basis of the Lagrange multiplier formalism. Next, a generalization of the binary Cahn-Hilliard free energy functional is presented for arbitrary number of
components, offering the utilization of independent pairwise equilibrium interfacial properties. We show that the equilibrium two-component interfaces minimize the functional, and demonstrate, that the energy penalization for multi-component states increases strictly monotonously as a function of the number of components being present. We validate the model via equilibrium contact angle
calculations in ternary and quaternary (4-component) systems. Simulations addressing liquid flow assisted spinodal decomposition in these systems are also presented.
Funding
This work has been supported by the VISTA basic research programme project No. 6359 "Surfactants for water/CO2/hydrocarbon emulsions for combined CO2 storage and utilization" of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Statoil.
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