Piecewise-Linear Interface Construction

The formation of a microemulsion from an array of microtubes has been studied experimentally and computationally by Kobayashi and co-workers [92,93). They used the commercial code CFD-ACE, which uses a piecewise linear interface construction (PLIC) method to determine the interface. They used quarter symmetry, as the channels were eDiptical in shape, but the simulations still required 7-14 days on a 2.5 GHz Pentium IV processor. The simulations captured the main features observed experimentally, including the change of regime from continuous outflow of oil if the channel was below a critical aspect ratio, to a stream of droplets above this threshold. The model was also used to predict the droplet size as a function of oil properties and generally agreed well with the experimental data. 

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