Hybrid atomistic-continuum simulation of nucleate boiling with a domain re-decomposition method

In this study, a domain re-decomposition hybrid atomistic-continuum method is developed to conduct a multiscale/multiphase investigation on the bubble nucleation. In addition to the conventional coupling scheme, this method is capable of re-partitioning the molecular and continuum domains once it is necessary during the simulation. Giving the fact that the accurate modeling of interface tracking and phase change are still problematic for continuum mechanics on microscale, our coupling method directly avoids these issues since CFD domain takes care of a single-phase flow while the molecular domain simulates the bubble growth.