• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.359-370
• /
• 2015

The present study aims to numerically investigate the behavior of liquid droplet driven by capillarity force imbalance on horizontal surfaces ranging from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, under various conditions. The droplet behavior has been simulated using an in-house solution code(PowerCFD), which employs an unstructured cell-centered method based on a conservative pressure-based finite-volume method with interface capturing method(CICSAM) in a volume of fluid(VOF) scheme for phase interface capturing. The detailed droplet behavior was obtained under various conditions for droplets with different initial shapes, contact angles and surface tension forces(or Bond number). The mechanism of droplet transport was examined using the numerical results on the droplet shapes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.263-270
• /
• 2014

A fluid transport technique is a key issue for the development of microfluidic systems. In this paper, a new concept for transporting a droplet without external power sources is proposed and verified numerically. The proposed device is a heterogeneous surface which has both hydrophilic and hydrophobic horizontal surfaces. The numerical simulation to demonstrate the new concept is conducted by an in-house solution code (PowerCFD) which employs an unstructured cell-centered method based on a conservative pressure-based finite-volume method with interface capturing method (CICSAM) in a volume of fluid (VOF) scheme for phase interface capturing. It is found that the proposed concept for droplet transport shows superior performance for droplet transport in microfluidic systems.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.30 no.4 s.247
• /
• pp.337-342
• /
• 2006

Natural convection flows in a cubical air-filled cavity that has one pair of opposing faces isothermal at different temperatures, $T_h\;and\;T_c$, respectively, the remaining four faces having a linear variation from $T_c\;to\;T_h$ are numerically simulated by a solution code(PowerCFD) using unstructured cell-centered method. Special attention is paid to three-dimensional flow and thermal characteristics according to the variation of inclination angle $\theta$ of the isothermal faces from horizontal: namely $\theta=0^{\circ},\;15^{\circ},\;30^{\circ},\;45^{\circ},\;50^{\circ},\;60^{\circ},\;75^{\circ}\;and\;90^{\circ}$. Comparisons of the average Nusselt number at the cold face are made with experimental benchmark results found in the literature. It is demonstrated that the average Nusselt number at the cold face has a maximum value around the inclination angle of $50^{\circ}$. It is also found that the code is capable of producing accurately the nature of the laminar convection in a cubical air-filled cavity with differentially heated walls.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.31 no.12
• /
• pp.1002-1008
• /
• 2007

Natural convection flows in a doubly-inclined cubical air-filled cavity are numerically simulated by a solution code(PowerCFD) using unstructured cell-centered method. For a physical realizability, the cavity has one pair of opposing isothermal faces at different temperatures, $T_h\;and\;T_c$, respectively, the remaining four faces having a linear variation from $T_c\;to\;T_h$. The paper redefines a new doubly-inclined orientation for the cubical-cavity benchmark problem. Special attention is paid to three-dimensional thermal characteristics in natural convection according to the new orientation at $Ra=4\times10^4$. Comparisons of the average Nusselt number at the cold face are made with benchmark solutions and experimental results found in the literature. It is found that the average Nusselt number at the cold face has a maximum value at the doubly-inclined angle ranging from $40^{\circ}\;to\; 45^{\circ}$ We also report the effect of new orientation on the type of temperature structure in a doubly-inclined cubical-cavity.