Suitability of the VOF Approach to Model an Electrogenerated Bubble with Marangoni Micro-Convection Flow

Abstract

When a hydrogen or oxygen bubble is created on the surface of an electrode, a micro-convective vortex flow due to the Marangoni effect is generated at the bottom of the bubble in contact with the electrode. In order to study such a phenomenon numerically, it is necessary to be able to simulate the surface tension variations along with a liquid-gas interface, to integrate the mass transfer across the interface from the dissolved species present in the electrolyte to the gas phase, and to take into account the moving contact line. Eulerian methods seem to have the potential to solve this modeling. However, the use of the continuous surface force (CSF) model in the volume of fluid (VOF) framework is known to introduce non-physical velocities, called spurious currents. This paper presents an alternative model based on the height function (HF) approach. The use of this method limits spurious currents and makes the VOF methodology suitable for studying Marangoni currents along with the interface of an electrogenerated bubble.