Numerical Study of Droplet Motion in a Microchannel with defferent contact angles

접촉각에 따른 마이크로채널 내에서의 액적 거동에 대한 수치적 연구

The droplet dynamics in a hydrophilic/hydrophobic microchannel, which is applicable to a typical proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), is studied numerically by solving the equations governing conservation of mass and momentum. The liquid-gas interface or droplet shape is determined by a level set method which is modified to treat contact angles. The matching conditions at the interface are accurately imposed by incorporating the ghost fluid approach based on a sharp-interface representation. The effects of contact angle, inlet flow velocity, droplet size and side wall on the droplet motion are investigated parametrically. Based on the numerical results, the droplet dynamics including the sliding and detachment of droplets is found to depend significantly on the contact angle. Also, a droplet removal process is demonstrated on the combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces.