The interaction between droplet evaporation and turbulence with interface-resolved direct numerical simulation

Direct numerical simulation of the evaporation of interface-resolved liquid droplets in decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence is performed in this study. The effect of the evaporation on droplet dynamics and turbulence is investigated by examining the turbulence kinetic energy, the dissipation rate, the power of surface tension and evaporation, and the flow topology structures. It is shown that the evaporation process can attenuate the turbulence kinetic energy, especially in the liquid phase. The hybrid power of surface tension and evaporation is shown to have a strong correlation with the rate of change in interface area, which is also derived mathematically. This work gives us a better understanding of the interaction between evaporating droplets and turbulence through using a high-fidelity interface-resolved method and potentially serves as the database to improve the droplet evaporation models in the dense spray zone. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.