Numerical study of drop interface deformation and breakup in shear flow

This paper presents numerical simulation results of the deformation and breakup of an isolated liquid drop suspended in an ambient, immiscible viscous fluid under shear flow. The model predicting the dynamic behavior of the drop is based on a diffuse interface method. The interface between the two fluids is tracked by an order parameter, namely the mass concentration. The fully transient, three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid are solved by a projection method on a fixed Cartesian grid which the interface moves through to ensure accurate calculation of the surface evolution. Surface tension effects are incorporated into the model through a modified stress. This paper focuses on steady shape analysis and the end pinching mechanism of drop breakup. The numerical results of drop deformation and breakup show very good agreement with theoretical analysis and experimental observations, which indicate that the diffuse interface method can successfully capture the main behavior of the drop deformation and breakup Detailed instructions for typing your article are given in the following.