BOUNDARY-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF PLANAR DROP DEFORMATION IN CONFINED FLOW- PART 1 - NEWTONIAN FLUIDS

A boundary element formulation is presented for the general two-dimens ional simulation of confined two-phase incompressible creeping Newtoni an flow (viscoelastic fluids will be considered in a second part). The method requires the solution of two simultaneous integral equations o n the interface between the two fluids and the confining solid boundar y. The method is illustrated through the simulation of the deformation of a drop as it is driven by the ambient flow inside a convergent cha nnel. The accuracy and convergence of the method are assessed by varyi ng the time increment for a given number of boundary elements. The inf luences of the degree of channel convergence and viscosity ratio are i nvestigated. Circular as well as elliptic initial drops are also consi dered. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.