Computational investigation of deformable droplet evaporation under forced convection

Abstract

Evaporation of a deformable droplet under convection is investigated and performance of the classical and Abramzon–Sirignano (A–S) models is evaluated. Using the Immersed Boundary/Front-Tracking (IB/FT) method, interface-resolved simulations are performed to examine droplet evaporation dynamics over a wide range of Reynolds (20 ≤ R e ≤ 200), Weber (0 . 65 ≤ W e ≤ 9), and mass transfer (1 ≤ B M ≤ 15) numbers. It is shown that flow in the wake region is greatly influenced by the Stefan flow as higher evaporation rates leads to an earlier flow separation and a larger recirculation zone behind the droplet. Under strong convection, the models fail to capture the evaporation rate especially in the wake region, which leads to significant discrepancies compared to interface-resolved simulations. Droplet deformation greatly influences the flow field around the droplet and generally enhances evaporation but the evaporation rate remains well correlated with the surface area. The A–S model exhibits a reasonably good performance for a nearly spherical droplet but its performance deteriorates significantly and generally underpredicts evaporation rate as droplet deformation increases. The A–S model is overall found to outperform the classical model in the presence of significant convection. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd.