Diffuse interface modelling of soluble surfactants in two-phase flow (Q487978)

This article deals with phase-field models for two-phase flow with a surfactant soluble in one or both fluids. First, the authors derive a classical sharp-interface model for a two-phase flow with surfactant and show that the model satisfies a local energy inequality. Next, the derivation of the phase-field models based on the Lagrange multiplier method are presented. It is shown that all three derived models satisfy a local dissipation inequality. Model A is for the case of non-instantaneous adsorption and the other two models are for instantaneous adsorption. Model B is for the case where surfactant is soluble in only one of the bulk phases, and model C is for the case where the surfactant is soluble in both bulk phases. The authors prove that the sharp-interface model previously introduced is recovered from the phase-field models via formally matched asymptotic analysis and that the length scale parameter \(\epsilon\) associated to the interfacial width is approaching 0 in the limit. Numerical simulations in 1D and 2D supporting the asymptotic analysis are presented. Through numerical experiments for each model, the authors illustrate that the proposed phase-field models are able to describe phenomena that can be observed in physical experiments.