Numerical investigations on vortical structures of viscous film flows along periodic rectangular corrugations

Two-dimensional gravity-driven film flows along a substrate with rectangular corrugations are studied numerically by using Finite Volume Method. The volume of fluid (VOF) method is utilized to capture the evolution of free surfaces. The film flows down an inclined plate are simulated to validate the numerical implementation of the present study. Results obtained indicate that the phase shift between the surface wave and the wall corrugation increases as the Reynolds number. The parametric studies on the interesting resonant phenomenon indicate that the peak Reynolds numbers increase as the raise of the wall depth or the decline of the inclination angle. The dependence of the flow fields is analyzed on the Reynolds numbers and wall depth in details. It is found that the vortical structures in the steady flows, either produced by the interaction between capillary wrinkling and inertia, or by the rectangular geometry, are closely related to the remarkable deformation of the free surfaces. This conclusion is also confirmed by the transient flow development of two typical simulations, i.e., flows in capillary-inertial regime and in inertial regime. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.