A numerical investigation on dynamics of ferrofluid droplet in nonuniform magnetic field

Abstract

This article presents a 3D numerical investigation on ferrofluid droplet motion in magnetic field using VOSET. A nonuniform magnetic field mimicking the one produced by an electric wire loop was generated in a finite computational domain. A validation problem on droplet deformation in uniform magnetic field was first studied, and it gives consistent aspect ratios with reported experiments. The simulation revealed an entire process of the ferrofluid droplet movement, and the influences by the intensity of the magnetic field was investigated and analyzed. Finally, a set of simulations were conducted for net magnetic force on spherical droplet, and the achieved data led to a correlation, which gives accurate prediction in the magnitude of the magnetic force and can be applied to droplet with a certain degree of deformation.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M6333506) and the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51721004).