Thermodynamic coarsening arrested by viscous fingering in partially miscible binary mixtures


Title

Thermodynamic coarsening arrested by viscous fingering in partially miscible binary mixtures

Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Physical Review E
Volume
94
Issue
3
Date Published
Jan-09-2016
Publication Language
eng
Citation Key
2842
ISSN
2470-0045
Abstract

We study the evolution of binary mixtures far from equilibrium, and show that the interplay between phase separation and hydrodynamic instability can arrest the Ostwald ripening process characteristic of nonflowing mixtures. We describe a model binary system in a Hele-Shaw cell using a phase-field approach with explicit dependence of both phase fraction and mass concentration. When the viscosity contrast between phases is large (as is the case for gas and liquid phases), an imposed background flow leads to viscous fingering, phase branching, and pinch off. This dynamic flow disorder limits phase growth and arrests thermodynamic coarsening. As a result, the system reaches a regime of statistical steady state in which the binary mixture is permanently driven away from equilibrium.

Short Title
Phys. Rev. E