Head-on collisions of binary micro-droplets are of great interest in both academic research and engineering applications. Numerical simulation of this problem is challenging due to complex interfacial changes and large density ratio between different fluids. In this work, the recently proposed lattice Boltzmann flux solver (LBFS) is applied to study this problem. The LBFS is a finite volume method for the direct update of macroscopic flow variables at cell centers. The fluxes of the LBFS are reconstructed at each cell interface through lattice moments of density distribution functions (DDFs). As compared with conventional multiphase lattice Boltzmann method, the LBFS can be easily applied to study complex multiphase flows with large density ratio. In addition, external forces can be implemented more conveniently and the tie-up between the time step and mesh spacing is also removed. Moreover, it can deal with complex boundary conditions directly as those do in the conventional Navier-Stokes solvers. At first, the reliability of the LBFS is validated by simulating a micro-droplet impacting on a dry surface at density ratio 832 (air to water). The obtained result agrees well with experimental measurement. After that, numerical simulations of head-on collisions of two micro droplets are carried out to examine different collisional behaviors in a wide range of Reynolds numbers and Weber numbers of 100 ≤ Re ≤ 2000 and 10 ≤ We ≤ 500. A phase diagram parameterized by these two control parameters is obtained to classify the outcomes of these collisions. It is shown that, at low Reynolds number ( Re =100), two droplets will be coalescent into a bigger one for all considered Weber numbers. With the increase of the Reynolds number, separation of the collision into multiple droplets appears and the critical Weber number for separation is decreased. When the Reynolds number is sufficiently high, the critical Weber number for separation is between 20 and 25.

Thermal and optical engineering applications of electromagnetic wave reflectance from rough surfaces include temperature measurement, radiation heating process, etc. Most of the surfaces are random roughness and often with coating material different from the substrate. This paper presented a novel hybrid partial coherence and geometry optics (HPCGO) model to improve the generic geometry optics (GO) method by incorporating a previously developed partial coherence reflectance equation. In this way, HPCGO expands the applicable region of GO model, and largely reduces the computation time of integrating different wavelength results in the regular hybrid model that considers coherence effect only. First, the HPCGO model is validated by more rigorous Maxwell equations solvers, for example, the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and integral equation (IE) method. Then, the HPCGO model is applied to study the coherent effect of directional-hemispherical reflectance from coated rough surfaces. It is found the roughness of coated rough surface can cause partial or non-coherent scattered light even if the incident light source is coherent. It also shows the coherence effect reduces with increased incident wave-number bandwidth.

Lipid bilayers form nanopores on the application of an electric field. This process of electroporation can be utilized in different applications ranging from targeted drug delivery in cells to nano-gating membrane for engineering applications. However, the ease of electroporation is dependent on the surface energy of the lipid layers and thus directly related to the packing structure of the lipid molecules. 1,2-dipalmitoyl- sn -glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) lipid monolayers were deposited on a mica substrate using the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique at different packing densities and analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The wetting behavior of these monolayers was investigated by contact angle measurement and molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that an equilibrium packing density of liquid-condensed (LC) phase DPPC likely exists and that water molecules can penetrate the monolayer displacing the lipid molecules. The surface tension of the monolayer in air and water was obtained along with its breakthrough force.

Electrokinetic transport in nanofluidics has attracted many attentions in recent years due to its potential applications in biomedical analysis and energy conversion systems. The biggest challenge to model the electrokinetic transport using atomistic simulations is the extensive cost in calculation of the long-range electrostatic force between ions. In this work, we develop an efficient molecular approach to simulate electrokinetic transport in nano-scale. The long-range Coulombic interactions are treated using the Particle-Particle Particle-Mesh (P 3 M) scheme and the Poisson equation for electric potential is solved in physical space using an iterative multi-grid technique. We implement this approach to systematically investigate two examples: the electroosmotic flow in random rough channels and the electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD). Both cases pose important engineering applications as a mechanism for transporting small amount of liquid in micro and nano devices.