MULTIPHASE FLOW IN NANOTUBES: A NON-EQUILIBRIUM MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY

One of the critical challenges in droplet-based micro- and nanofluidic devices is handling the droplet breakup such that a controllable droplet size is produced. The experimental and numerical investigations at the microscalc indicate that the droplet size can be well controlled by T junction geometries. In the present study,we use non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations to investigate this phenomenon at the nanoscale. In order to generalize the study, the Lennard- Jones type potential between the fluids and the walls have been considered and the strength and the effective range of the potential are changed to consider a wide variety of materials. Our results reveal that the breakup of the droplets at the nanoscales, similar to the microscale, depends on the capillary number and for capillary numbers larger than a critical value the break up may occur. In addition, the initial length of the droplets affects the breakup process and the tunneling time.

Keywords:

Nanodevice , Nanodroplet , Breakup , Non- cquilibrium molecular dynamics , Multiphase flow