Vibrational Intensification of Mass Transfer Across the Interface Between Viscous Liquids
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Vibrations are an effective tool for controlling fluid motion and mass transfer, in particular under microgravity conditions. The study addresses a topical technological problem: the intensification of mass transfer across the interface between immiscible high-viscosity liquids. The time-averaged flow in a flat vertical cell, generated by oscillations of a body at the interface between two viscous fluids, is investigated experimentally. The body has the shape of a parallelepiped elongated along the interface, with straight (beveled) edges. It is found that oscillations of the body perpendicular to the interface induce intense time-averaged flows in the form of a pair of large-scale vortices in each fluid, encompassing the entire cell volume. The flow direction is opposite to that of the known case of steady streaming in low-viscosity fluids. The dependence of the structure and intensity of the time-averaged flows on the vibration parameters is determined. It is shown that the detected time-averaged flow intensifies the mass transfer of a substance dissolved in one of the fluids across the interface; the mass transfer rate exceeds the diffusion rate by several orders of magnitude. The discovered vibration-induced effect is novel and can be effectively used in technological processes, in particular under reduced gravity conditions.
Source: Research Square
Authors: O. A. VLASOVA, A. A. VJATKIN, V. G. KOZLOV
Institution: Perm State Humanitarian-Pedagogical University
Language: English
Subfield: Computational Mechanics
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225784352