Temperature profile in a liquid–vapour interface near the critical point

Abstract

Thanks to an expansion with respect to densities of energy, mass and entropy, we discuss the concept of thermocapillary fluid for inhomogeneous fluids. The non-convex state law valid for homogeneous fluids is modified by adding terms taking account of the gradients of these densities. This seems more realistic than Cahn and Hilliard’s model which uses a density expansion in mass-density gradient only. Indeed, through liquid–vapour interfaces, realistic potentials in molecular theories show that entropy density and temperature do not vary with the mass density as it would do in bulk phases. In this paper, we prove using a rescaling process near the critical point, that liquid–vapour interfaces behave essentially in the same way as in Cahn and Hilliard’s model.