Henri Gouin

Scaling Navier-Stokes Equation in Nanotubes

On one hand, classical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations have been very useful in the study of liquids in nanotubes, enabling a wide variety of properties to be calculated in intuitive agreement with experiments. On the other hand, recent studies indicate that the theory of continuum breaks down only at the nanometer level; consequently flows through nanotubes still can be investigated with Navier-Stokes equations if we take suitable boundary conditions into account. The aim of this paper is to study the statics and dynamics of liquids in nanotubes by using methods of nonlinear continuum mechanics. We assume that the nanotube is filled with only a liquid phase; by using a second gradient theory the static profile of the liquid density in the tube is analytically obtained and compared with the profile issued from molecular dynamics simulation. Inside the tube there are two domains: a thin layer near the solid wall where the liquid density is non-uniform and a central core where the liquid dens...

A variational principle for two-fluid models

A variational principle for two-fluid mixtures is proposed. The Lagrangian is constructed as the difference between the kinetic energy of the mixture and a thermodynamic potential conjugated to the internal energy with respect to the relative velocity of phases. The equations of motion and a set of Rankine-Hugoniot conditions are obtained. It is proved also that the convexity of the internal energy guarantees the hyperbolicity of the one-dimensional equations of motion linearized at rest.

On the Müller paradox for thermal-incompressible media

In his monograph Thermodynamics, I. Müller proves that for incompressible media the volume does not change with the temperature. This Müller paradox yields an incompatibility between experimental evidence and the entropy principle. This result has generated much debate within the mathematical and thermodynamical communities as to the basis of Boussinesq approximation in fluid dynamics. The aim of this paper is to prove that for an appropriate definition of incompressibility, as a limiting case of quasi-thermal-incompressible body, the entropy principle holds for pressures smaller than a critical pressure value. The main consequence of our result is the physically obvious one that for very large pressures, no body can be perfectly incompressible. The result is first established in the fluid case. In case of hyperelastic media subject to large deformations, the approach is similar, but with a suitable definition of the pressure associated with a convenient stress tensor decomposition.

A consistent thermodynamical model of incompressible media as limit case of quasi-thermal-incompressible materials

Abstract In this paper we extend the conditions on quasi-thermal-incompressible materials presented in Gouin et al. (2011) [1] so that they satisfy all the principles of thermodynamics, including the stability condition associated with the concavity of the chemical potential. We analyze the approximations under which a quasi-thermal-incompressible medium can be considered as incompressible. We find that the pressure cannot exceed a very large critical value and that the compressibility factor must be greater than a lower limit that is very small. The analysis is first done for the case of fluids and then extended to the case of thermoelastic solids.

The wetting problem of fluids on solid surfaces. Part 2: the contact angle hysteresis

Abstract.In part 1 (Gouin, [13]), we proposed a model of dynamics of wetting for slow movements near a contact line formed at the interface of two immiscible fluids and a solid when viscous dissipation remains bounded. The contact line is not a material line and a Young-Dupré equation for the apparent dynamic contact angle taking into account the line celerity was proposed. In this paper we consider a form of the interfacial energy of a solid surface in which many small oscillations are superposed on a slowly varying function. For a capillary tube, a scaling analysis of the microscopic law associated with the Young-Dupré dynamic equation yields a macroscopic equation for the motion of the contact line. The value of the deduced apparent dynamic contact angle yields for the average response of the line motion a phenomenon akin to the stick-slip motion of the contact line on the solid wall. The contact angle hysteresis phenomenon and the modelling of experimentally well-known results expressing the dependence of the apparent dynamic contact angle on the celerity of the line are obtained. Furthermore, a qualitative explanation of the maximum speed of wetting (and dewetting) can be given.

The watering of tall trees – Embolization and recovery

We can propound a thermo-mechanical understanding of the ascent of sap to the top of tall trees thanks to a comparison between experiments associated with the cohesion-tension theory and the disjoining pressure concept for liquid thin-films. When a segment of xylem is tight-filled with crude sap, the liquid pressure can be negative although the pressure in embolized vessels remains positive. Examples are given that illustrate how embolized vessels can be refilled and why the ascent of sap is possible even in the tallest trees avoiding the problem due to cavitation. However, the maximum height of trees is limited by the stability domain of liquid thin-films.

Travelling waves near a critical point of a binary fluid mixture

Abstract Travelling waves of densities of binary fluid mixtures are investigated near a critical point. The free energy is considered in a non-local form taking account of the density gradients. The equations of motions are applied to a universal form of the free energy near critical conditions and can be integrated by a rescaling process where the binary mixture is similar to a single fluid. Nevertheless, density solution profiles obtained are not necessarily monotonic. As indicated in Appendix, the results might be extended to other topics like in finance or biology.

The wetting problem of fluids on solid surfaces. Part 1: the dynamics of contact lines

Abstract.The understanding of the spreading of liquids on solid surfaces is an important challenge for contemporary physics. Today, the motion of the contact line formed at the intersection of two immiscible fluids and a solid is still subject to dispute. In this paper, a new picture of the dynamics of wetting is offered through an example of non-Newtonian slow liquid movements. The kinematics of liquids at the contact line and equations of motion are revisited. Adherence conditions are required except at the contact line. Consequently, for each fluid, the velocity field is multivalued at the contact line and generates an equivalent concept of line friction but stresses and viscous dissipation remain bounded. A Young-Dupré equation for the apparent dynamic contact angle between the interface and solid surface depending on the movements of the fluid near the contact line is proposed.

Travelling waves of density for a fourth-gradient model of fluids

In mean-field theory, the non-local state of fluid molecules can be taken into account using a statistical method. The molecular model combined with a density expansion in Taylor series of the fourth order yields an internal energy value relevant to the fourth-gradient model, and the equation of isothermal motions takes then density’s spatial derivatives into account for waves travelling in both liquid and vapour phases. At equilibrium, the equation of the density profile across interfaces is more precise than the Cahn and Hilliard equation, and near the fluid’s critical point, the density profile verifies an Extended Fisher–Kolmogorov equation, allowing kinks, which converges towards the Cahn–Hillard equation when approaching the critical point. Nonetheless, we also get pulse waves oscillating and generating critical opalescence.

Temperature profile in a liquid-vapor interface near the critical point

Thanks to an expansion with respect to densities of energy, mass and entropy, we discuss the concept of thermocapillary fluid for inhomogeneous fluids. The non-convex state law valid for homogeneous fluids is modified by adding terms taking account of the gradients of these densities. This seems more realistic than Cahn and Hilliard’s model which uses a density expansion in mass-density gradient only. Indeed, through liquid–vapour interfaces, realistic potentials in molecular theories show that entropy density and temperature do not vary with the mass density as it would do in bulk phases. In this paper, we prove using a rescaling process near the critical point, that liquid–vapour interfaces behave essentially in the same way as in Cahn and Hilliard’s model.