The evaporation of a liquid slab into vacuum is studied by numerical solutions of the Enskog– Vlasov equation for a fluid of spherical molecules interacting by Sutherland potential. The equation provides a simplified description of the microscopic behavior of the fluid but it has the capability of handling both the liquid and vapor phase, thus eliminating the necessity of postulating ad hoc models for boundary conditions at the vapor-liquid interface. This work focuses on obtaining the structure of the vapor-liquid interface in nonequilibrium conditions as well as the distribution function of evaporating molecules. The results show that the molecules crossing a properly defined vapor-liquid boundary have an almost Maxwellian distribution function and that the vapor phase is reasonably well described by the Boltzmann equation with diffusive boundary condition.

Mean field kinetic theory description of evaporation of a fluid into vacuum

FREZZOTTI, ALDO;GIBELLI, LIVIO;LORENZANI, SILVIA
2005-01-01

Abstract

The evaporation of a liquid slab into vacuum is studied by numerical solutions of the Enskog– Vlasov equation for a fluid of spherical molecules interacting by Sutherland potential. The equation provides a simplified description of the microscopic behavior of the fluid but it has the capability of handling both the liquid and vapor phase, thus eliminating the necessity of postulating ad hoc models for boundary conditions at the vapor-liquid interface. This work focuses on obtaining the structure of the vapor-liquid interface in nonequilibrium conditions as well as the distribution function of evaporating molecules. The results show that the molecules crossing a properly defined vapor-liquid boundary have an almost Maxwellian distribution function and that the vapor phase is reasonably well described by the Boltzmann equation with diffusive boundary condition.
2005
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
PhysFluids_17_012102.pdf

Accesso riservato

: Post-Print (DRAFT o Author’s Accepted Manuscript-AAM)
Dimensione 488.74 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
488.74 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/521659
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 99
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 89
social impact