Analysis of Partial Electrocoalescence by Level-Set and Finite Element Methods

Abstract

The coalescence of a water drop in a dieletric oil phase at a water layer interface in the presence of an electric field is simulated by solving the Navier-Stokes and charge conservation equations with the finite element method. The proprietary software Comsol Multiphysics is used for this purpose. The interface between the oil and water phases is tracked by implementing a level-set approach. Preliminary simulations to assess the sensitivity of the model with respect to some input parameters are reported. In particular, the calculations are very sensitive to the size of the computational grid elements and the interface thickness parameter. Nevertheless, the model is able to reproduce the occurrence of partial coalescence for the experimental case examined. Good quantitative agreement can be obtained if the parameters are suitably tuned.