Numerical simulation of a two-phase flow in the electrospinning process

Abstract

Purpose

An electrospinning process is a multi-phase and multi-physics process. The purpose of this paper is to numerically simulate the two-phase flow in the electrospinning process. The numerical results can offer in-depth insight into physical understanding of many complex phenomena which cannot be fully explained experimentally.

Design/methodology/approach

The two-phase flow can be calculated by solving the modified Navier-Stokes equations under the influence of electric field and the interface between the two fluids has been determined by using the Volume of Fluids (VOF) method. A realizable k-e model is used to model the turbulent viscosity. The numerical results can be obtained using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques.

Findings

The numerical simulation is a powerful tool to controlling over electrospinning parameters such as voltage, flow rate, and others.

Research limitations/implications

The numerical simulation of two-phase flow model will take into account solvent evaporation and solidification of the jet, which play pivotal roles in determining the internal fiber morphology of the jet to be described here.

Originality/value

This paper deals with studying numerically the two-phase flow in the electrospinning process by applying CFD techniques. And the flow is modeled by ANSYS(FLUENT) using the VOF model.

Citation

Xu, L., Liu, H., Si, N. and Wai Ming Lee, E. (2014), "Numerical simulation of a two-phase flow in the electrospinning process", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 24 No. 8, pp. 1755-1761. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-05-2013-0178