Droplet deformation and fragmentation characteristics under coupling effect of electric field and shear flow field

Wang Tai; Liu Yuwei; Li Shengrui; Lv Shichao; Liu Lu; Wang Teng; Dong Xinyu

doi:10.16085/j.issn.1000-6613.2026-1159

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Droplet deformation and fragmentation characteristics under coupling effect of electric field and shear flow field

更新时间：2026-08-20

- Droplet deformation and fragmentation characteristics under coupling effect of electric field and shear flow field
- Chemical Industry and Engineering Progress (2026)
- 作者机构：
  
  华北电力大学能源动力与机械工程学院，河北保定 071003
- 作者简介：
- 基金信息：
- DOI：10.16085/j.issn.1000-6613.2026-1159
  CLC： O361.4
- Received：15 July 2026，
  
  Revised：2026-08-17，
  
  Accepted：19 August 2026，
- 稿件说明：
移动端阅览
Wang Tai, Liu Yuwei, Li Shengrui, et al. Droplet deformation and fragmentation characteristics under coupling effect of electric field and shear flow field[J/OL]. Chemical Industry and Engineering Progress, 2026.
DOI：

Wang Tai, Liu Yuwei, Li Shengrui, et al. Droplet deformation and fragmentation characteristics under coupling effect of electric field and shear flow field[J/OL]. Chemical Industry and Engineering Progress, 2026. DOI： 10.16085/j.issn.1000-6613.2026-1159.

摘要

电场与剪切流场耦合作用下液滴的动力学特性在石油破乳脱水、微流控等工业领域具有重要的应用价值。鉴于此，基于OpenFOAM开源平台，构建了CLSVOF界面捕捉方法，并引入漏电介质模型与自适应网格技术，实现了多物理场耦合作用下自由界面的三维数值模拟。研究了剪切流场、电场、黏度等因素对液滴动力学特性的影响，分析了电场、流场、电荷、电场力、表面张力等信息的时空分布。研究发现，电场力的介入打破了纯剪切流场中液滴的稳态平衡，显著降低液滴破碎的临界毛细数。当毛细数

=0.2、电毛细数

=0.3时，液滴拉伸比在约0.17 s时超过5并发生破碎；当连续相黏度由1.04 Pa·s降至0.104 Pa·s时，液滴破碎时间由0.73 s缩短至0.075 s。在双场耦合作用下，液滴极化电荷在尖端区域汇聚，局部麦克斯韦应力激增

并取代剪切力成为主导形变的核心动力。不同工况下，液滴会呈现不同的破碎模式，一种是液滴变形为纺锤体，并发生尖端喷射破碎；另一种是液滴变形为哑铃状，两端破碎形成两个较大子液滴。连续相黏度的降低，会减少黏性阻力，从而缩短液滴由初始拉伸至最终破碎所需的时间。研究结果可为电场—流场耦合作用下液滴动力学行为的预测及相关分离与微流控装备的优化设计提供理论依据。

Abstract

Dynamic characteristics of droplets under the coupling effect of electric field and shear flow field have significant application value in industrial fields such as petroleum demulsification and dehydration

and microfluidics. In view of this

a coupled level set and volume of fluid (CLSVOF) interface tracking method was established based on the open-source OpenFOAM platform

and the leaky dielectric model and adaptive mesh technology were introduced to realize the three-dimensional numerical simulation of free interfaces under the coupling effect of multi-physical fields. The effects of shear flow field

electric field

viscosity and other factors on the dynamic characteristics of droplets were investigated

and the spatiotemporal distributions of information including electric field

flow field

electric charge

electric field force and surface tension were analyzed. It was found that the intervention of electric field force broke the steady-state equilibrium of droplets in the pure shear flow field and significantly reduced the critical capillary number for droplet breakup. When the capillary number was

=0.2 and the electric capillary number was

=0.3

the droplet stretch ratio exceeded 5 at approximately 0.17 s

followed by droplet breakup. When the continuous-phase viscosity decreased from 1.04 to 0.104 Pa⋅s

the droplet breakup time was reduced from 0.73 to 0.075 s. Under the coupling effect of the two fields

the polarized charges of droplets converge in the tip region

and the local Maxwell stress surged and replaced the shear force to become the core driving force for deformation. Under different working conditions

droplets exhibited different breakup modes: one was that the droplet deformed into a spindle sha

pe and underwent tip-jet breakup; the other was that the droplet deformed into a dumbbell shape and broke at both ends to form two larger daughter droplets. The decrease in the viscosity of the continuous phase reduced the viscous resistance and shortened the time for droplets from initial stretching to final breakup. These findings provide a theoretical basis for predicting droplet dynamics under coupled electric and flow fields and for optimizing the design of related separation and microfluidic devices.

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Keywords

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