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Three-phase flows through a pore network of Berea sandstone are studied numerically under critical interfacial tension condition. Results show that the relative permeability of each fluid increases as its own saturation increases. The specific interfacial length between wetting and non-wetting fluids monotonously decreases with increasing the saturation of intermediate-wetting fluid, while the other two specific interfacial lengths exhibit a non-monotonous variation. As the wetting (non-wetting) fluid becomes less wetting (non-wetting), the relative permeability of wetting fluid monotonously increases, while the other two relative permeabilities show a non-monotonous trend. Due to the presence of spreading layer, the specific interfacial length between wetting and non-wetting fluids always stabilizes at a low level. As the viscosity ratio of wetting (non-wetting) to intermediate-wetting fluids increases, the relative permeability of wetting (non-wetting) fluid increases. With the viscosity ratio deviating from unity, the phase interfaces become increasingly unstable, leading to an increased specific interfacial length.

Although the thermal conductivity of molecular gases can be measured straightforwardly and accurately, it is difficult to experimentally determine its separate contributions from the translational and internal motions of gas molecules. Yet this information is critical in rarefied gas dynamics as the rarefaction effects corresponding to these motions are different. In this paper, we propose a novel methodology to extract the translational thermal conductivity (or equivalently, the translational Eucken factor) of molecular gases from the Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering (RBS) experimental data. From the numerical simulation of the \cite{LeiJFM2015} model we find that, in the kinetic regime, in addition to bulk viscosity, the RBS spectrum is sensitive to the translational Eucken factor, even when the total thermal conductivity is fixed. Thus it is not only possible to extract the bulk viscosity, but also the translational Eucken factor of molecular gases from RBS light scattering spectra measurements. Such experiments bear the additional advantage that gas-surface interactions do not affect the measurements. For the first time, bulk viscosities (due to the rotational relaxation of gas molecules only) and translational Eucken factors of N2, CO2 and SF6 are simultaneously extracted from RBS experiments.

Double emulsion formation in a hierarchical flow-focusing channel is systematically investigated using a free energy ternary lattice Boltzmann model. A three dimensional formation regime diagram is constructed based on the capillary numbers of the inner ($Ca_i$), middle ($Ca_m$) and outer ($Ca_o$) phase fluids. The results show that the formation diagram can be classified into periodic two-step region, periodic one-step region, and non-periodic region. By varying $Ca_i$ and $Ca_m$ in the two-step formation region, different morphologies are obtained, including the regular double emulsions, decussate regimes with one or two alternate empty droplets, and structures with multiple inner droplets contained in the continuous middle phase thread. Bidisperse behaviors are also frequently encountered in the two-step formation region. In the periodic one-step formation region, scaling laws are proposed for the double emulsion size and for the size ratio between the inner droplet and the overall double emulsion. Furthermore, we show that the interfacial tension ratio can greatly change the morphologies of the obtained emulsion droplets, and the channel geometry plays an important role in changing the formation regimes and the double emulsion sizes. In particular, narrowing the side inlets or the distance between the two side inlets promotes the conversion from the two-step formation regime to the one-step formation regime., Comment: 14 figures; Accepted for publication in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics

In this work, a novel synthetic iteration scheme (SIS) is developed for the LBE to find solutions to Kramer's problem accurately and efficiently: the velocity distribution function is first solved by the conventional iterative scheme, then it is modified such that in each iteration i) the flow velocity is guided by an ordinary differential equation that is asymptotic-preserving at the Navier-Stokes limit and ii) the shear stress is equal to the average shear stress. Based on the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model, the SIS is assessed to be efficient and accurate. Then we investigate the Kramer's problem for gases interacting through the inverse power-law, shielded Coulomb, and Lennard-Jones potentials, subject to diffuse-specular and Cercignani-Lampis gas-surface boundary conditions. When the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient (TMAC) is not larger than one, the Knudsen layer function is strongly affected by the potential, where its value and width increase with the effective viscosity index of gas molecules. Moreover, the Knudsen layer function exhibits similarities among different values of TMAC when the intermolecular potential is fixed. For Cercignani-Lampis boundary condition with TMAC larger than one, both the viscous slip coefficient and Knudsen layer function are affected by the intermolecular potential, especially when the "backward" scattering limit is approached. With the asymptotic theory by Jiang and Luo for the singular behavior of the velocity gradient in the vicinity of the solid surface, we find that the whole Knudsen layer function can be well fitted by power series., Comment: 28pages, 10 figures

We propose a lattice Boltzmann color-gradient model for immiscible ternary fluid flows, which is applicable to the fluids with a full range of interfacial tensions, especially in near-critical and critical states. An interfacial force for N-phase systems is derived based on the previously developed perturbation operator and is then introduced into the model using a body force scheme, which helps reduce spurious velocities. A generalized recoloring algorithm is applied to produce phase segregation and ensure immiscibility of three different fluids, where a novel form of segregation parameters is proposed by considering the existence of Neumann's triangle and the effect of equilibrium contact angle in three-phase junction. The proposed model is first validated with three typical examples, namely the interface capturing for two separate static droplets, the Young-Laplace test for a compound droplet, and the spreading of a droplet between two stratified fluids. This model is then used to study the structure and stability of double droplets in a static matrix. Consistent with the theoretical stability diagram, seven possible equilibrium morphologies are successfully reproduced by adjusting two ratios of the interfacial tensions. By simulating Janus droplets in various geometric configurations, the model is shown to be accurate when three interfacial tensions satisfy a Neumann's triangle. In addition, we also simulate the near-critical and critical states of double droplets where the outcomes are very sensitive to the model accuracy. Our results show that the present model is advantageous to three-phase flow simulations, and allows for accurate simulation of near-critical and critical states., Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures

An iterative scheme can be used to find a steady-state solution to the Boltzmann equation, however, it is very slow to converge in the near-continuum flow regime. In this paper, a synthetic iterative scheme is developed to speed up the solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation. The velocity distribution function is first solved by the conventional iterative scheme, then it is corrected such that the macroscopic flow velocity is governed by a diffusion equation which is asymptotic-preserving in the Navier-Stokes limit. The efficiency of the new scheme is verified by calculating the eigenvalue of the iteration, as well as solving for Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows. The synthetic iterative scheme is significantly faster than the conventional iterative scheme in both the transition and the near-continuum flow regimes. Moreover, due to the asymptotic-preserving properties, the SIS needs less spatial resolution in the near-continuum flow regimes, which makes it even faster than the conventional iterative scheme. Using this synthetic iterative scheme, and the fast spectral approximation of the linearized Boltzmann collision operator, Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows between two parallel plates, through channels of circular/rectangular cross sections, and various porous media are calculated over the whole range of gas rarefaction. Finally, the flow of a Ne-Ar gas mixture is solved based on the linearized Boltzmann equation with the Lennard-Jones potential for the first time, and the difference between these results and those using hard-sphere intermolecular potential is discussed., Comment: 13 figs, 5 tables

Over the last two decades, lattice Boltzmann methods have become an increasingly popular tool to compute the flow in complex geometries such as porous media. In addition to single phase simulations allowing, for example, a precise quantification of the permeability of a porous sample, a number of extensions to the lattice Boltzmann method are available which allow to study multiphase and multicomponent flows on a pore scale level. In this article we give an extensive overview on a number of these diffuse interface models and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, we shortly report on multiphase flows containing solid particles, as well as implementation details and optimization issues., Comment: 50 pages, 13 figures in Computational Geosciences (2016)