On the Calculation of Liquid–Vapor Interfacial Thickness Using Experimental Surface Tension Data

Specificity Switching Pathways in Thermal and Mass Evaporation of Multicomponent Hydrocarbon Droplets: A Mesoscopic Observation

For well over one century, the Hertz-Knudsen equation has established the relationship between thermal - mass transfer coefficients through a liquid - vapour interface and evaporation rate. These coefficients, however, have been often separately estimated for one-component equilibrium systems and their simultaneous influences on evaporation rate of fuel droplets in multicomponent systems have yet to be investigated at the atomic level. Here we first apply atomistic simulation techniques and quantum/statistical mechanics methods to understand how thermal and mass evaporation effects are controlled kinetically/thermodynamically. We then present a new development of a hybrid method of quantum transition state theory/improved kinetic gas theory, for multicomponent hydrocarbon systems to investigate how concerted-distinct conformational changes of hydrocarbons at the interface affect the evaporation rate. The results of this work provide an important physical concept in fundamental understanding of atomistic pathways in topological interface transitions of chain molecules, resolving an open problem in kinetics of fuel droplets evaporation.

Understanding the interfacial behavior in isopycnic Lennard-Jones mixtures by computer simulations

The physical characterization of the singular interfacial behavior of heterogeneous fluid systems is a very important step in preliminary stages of the design process, and also in the subsequent procedures for the determination of the optimal operating conditions. Molar isopycnicity or molar density inversion is a special case of phase equilibrium behavior that directly affects the relative position of phases in heterogeneous mixtures, without being affected by gravitational fields. This work is dedicated to characterize the impact of molar density inversion on the interfacial properties of Lennard-Jones binary mixtures. The results and specific trends of the molar density inversion phenomena on the peculiar calculated composition profiles across the interface and interfacial tensions are explored by using canonical molecular dynamics simulations of the Lennard-Jones binary mixtures. Our results show that the density inversion causes drastic changes in the density profiles of the mixtures. In particular, symmetrical and equal-sized Lennard-Jones mixtures always exhibit desorption along the interfacial zone, i.e. the interfacial concentration profiles show a relative minimum at the interface of the total density profiles that increases when the dispersive energy parameter (ε(ij)) between unlike species decreases. However, as the asymmetry of the Lennard-Jones mixtures increases (σ(i) ≠ σ(j)), the concentration profiles display a relative maximum at the interface, which implies the adsorption of the total density profiles along the interfacial zone.