Modeling of evaporation from a sessile constant shape droplet

Abstract

In this study, a computational model for the evaporation from a sessile liquid droplet fed from the center to keep the diameter of the droplet constant is presented. The continuity, momentum and energy equations are solved with temperature dependent thermo-physical properties using COMSOL Multi-physics. At the surface of the droplet, convective heat and evaporative mass fluxes are assigned. Since the flow field is affected by evaporative flux, an iterative scheme is built and the computation is automated using COMSOL-MATLAB interface. Correlations are implemented to predict the convective heat transfer coefficients and evaporative flux. Three different wall temperatures are used in simulations. The results show that the flow inside the droplet is dominated by buoyancy when the effect of the thermo-capillarity is neglected. The resulting flow generates a circulation pattern emerging from the entrance to the apex, along the surface of the droplet to the bottom heated wall and back to the entrance.