The Dynamics of Miscible Interfaces: Simulations

The goal of this experimental/computational investigation (joint with Prof Maxworthy at USC) has been to study the dynamics of miscible interfaces, both from a scientific and a practical point of view, and to prepare a related experiment to be flown on the International Space Station. In order to address these effects, we have focused experimental and computational investigations on miscible displacements in cylindrical capillary tubes, as well as in Hele-Shaw cells. Regarding the flow in a capillary tube, the question was addressed as to whether Korteweg stresses and/or divergence effects can potentially account for discrepancies observed between conventional Stokes flow simulations and experiments for miscible flows in capillary tubes. An estimate of the vorticity and streamfunction fields induced by the Kortewegs stresses was derived, which shows these stresses to result in the formation of a vortex ring structure near the tip of the concentration front. Through this mechanism the propagation velocity of the concentration front is reduced, in agreement with the experimental observations. Divergence effects, on the other hand, were seen to be very small, and they have a negligible influence on the tip velocity. As a result, it can be concluded that they are not responsible for the discrepancies between experiments and conventional Stokes simulations. A further part of our investigation focussed on the development of high-accuracy three-dimensional spectral element simulation techniques for miscible flows in capillary tubes, including the effects of variable density and viscosity. Towards this end, the conservation equations are treated in cylindrical coordinates.