Possible phase boundary shapes of a rotating droplet
Abstract
A method is developed for predicting the equilibrium configurations of a droplet rotating in an isothermal, constant size volume that is closed to mass transport. In contrast to previous methods that have been applied to predict the droplet shapes, it is found that if the complete conditions for thermodynamic equilibrium are imposed, the possible shapes of the droplet may be predicted in terms of experimentally controllable variables. The method developed is applied to a particular experimental circumstance and it is found that there are three possible shapes for the droplet under this circumstance. Two are simply connected, an oblate and a biconcave spheroid, and the third is a nonsimply connected torus. An investigation of the thermodynamic stability of the three possible equilibrium shapes indicates that under the conditions considered, the torus is the thermodynamically favored configuration.
- Publication:
-
AIAA/IKI Microgravity Science Symposium
- Pub Date:
- 1991
- Bibcode:
- 1991ikim.symp...66W
- Keywords:
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- Drops (Liquids);
- Rotary Stability;
- Rotating Fluids;
- Shapes;
- Thermodynamic Equilibrium;
- Liquid Phases;
- Numerical Analysis;
- Vapor Phases;
- Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer