Fluid Flow and Turbulence Description in the Vicinity of Liquid/Liquid Interfaces

Fluid flow in the vicinity of a liquid/liquid interface was computed with CFD and measured via LDA technique. The flow presents some similarities to wall bounded flow with the presence of a viscous boundary layer of wall unit thickness y(+) = 10. It was seen that the turbulence is almost completely damped in this viscous boundary layer. Even with velocity mean values close to zero, the interface has an oscillatory movement and a very low value of the turbulence intensity was found at the points close to the interface. The viscosity ratio was suggested as a parameter to predict the existence of a viscous boundary layer close to the interfaces between immiscible fluids.