Phase separation in a chaotic flow.
The phase separation between two immiscible liquids advected by a bidimensional velocity field is investigated numerically by solving the corresponding Cahn-Hilliard equation. We study how the spinodal decomposition process depends on the presence-or absence-of Lagrangian chaos. A fully chaotic flow, in particular, limits the growth of domains, and for unequal volume fractions of the liquids, a characteristic exponential distribution of droplet sizes is obtained. The limiting domain size results from a balance between chaotic mixing and spinodal decomposition, measured in terms of Lyapunov exponent and diffusivity constant, respectively.
Berthier
L
L
Département de Physique des Matériaux, Université C. Bernard and CNRS, Villeurbanne, France.
Barrat
J L
JL
Kurchan
J
J