Controlling Homogeneous Nucleation in Lattice Boltzmann: Tolman length and fluctuating hydrodynamics
In this talk I will present the latest results obtained in a mesoscopic hydrodynamic model of a multi-phase mixture. By means of the Shan-Chen Lattice Boltzmann model, I will show how it is possible to capture the fundamental thermodynamic behavior of the curvature corrections to the surface tension, in particular the first order correction called Tolman length. Then, I will demonstrate the possibility to tune such a correction and finally provide a revised and updated implementation for the fluctuating hydrodynamics. All these points leverage a detailed knowledge of the pressure tensor allowing for a fine control over the system. Taken all together, these results allow to investigate the physics of homogeneous nucleation highlighting the important role played by curvature corrections which are captured for the first time in a mesoscopic multi-phase model compliant with hydrodynamics. This represents a major step forward for the adoption of the Lattice Boltzmann method in the context of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation: due to the high computational scalability and ease of managing complex boundary conditions, I will provide examples of how this method can play a fundamental role with major applications to both energy transfer problems as well as cavitation inception.
Speaker: Prof. Matteo Matteo Lulli
Zoom Link: https://hkust.zoom.us/j/92479933009?pwd=enJMbUUySjZVNE0xdXBEbEQvSXdVdz09
Meeting ID: 924 7993 3009
Passcode: 979664
Dr. Lulli obtained his PhD under the supervision of Giorgio Parisi (Nobel Prize for Physics 2021 for his studies on noise and disorder) at the University of Rome "Sapienza", proposing a new out-of-equilibrium approach for the study of continuous phase transitions which was applied to the three-dimensional Ising spin-glass, as well as working in the canonical quantization of General Relativity. During his postdocs in Twente University and University of Rome "Tor Vergata" Dr. Lulli built up his expertise in fluid dynamics, with a focus on multi-component flows of emulsions near the yielding transition in the Lattice Boltzmann framework. Later on, at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Dr. Lulli gave his contribution to the understanding of the aging dynamics in structural glasses in Kovacs' experiments by means of a lattice particle model. Dr. Lulli is presently Research Assistant Professor at the Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering Department of the Southern University of Science and Technology where he has pushed forward the mesoscale modeling of the curvature corrections to the surface tension of multi-phase and multi-component interfaces in presence of hydrodynamics, allowing to tackle with an unprecedented control, homogeneous and heterogeneous cavitation problems in fluctuating hydrodynamics with potential groundbreaking applications in energy conversion, e.g. electrolysis, and cavitation inception. Dr. Lulli is also the author of the github project 'lullimat/idea.deploy' where he is releasing the source-code and scripts to independently reproduce his recent results.