A thermodynamically consistent phase-field lattice Boltzmann method for two-phase electrohydrodynamic flows

Abstract: In this work, we aim to develop a phase-field based lattice Boltzmann (LB) method for simulating two-phase electrohydrodynamics (EHD) flows, which allows for different properties (densities, viscosities, conductivity and permittivity) of each phase while maintaining thermodynamic consistency. To this end, we first present a theoretical analysis on the two-phase EHD flows by using the Onsager's variational principle, which is an extension of Rayleigh's principle of least energy dissipation and, naturally, guarantees thermodynamic consistency. It shows that the governing equations of the model include the hydrodynamic equations, Cahn-Hilliard equation coupled with additional electrical effect, and the full Poisson-Nernst-Planck electrokinetic equations. After that, a coupled lattice Boltzmann (LB) scheme is constructed for simulating two-phase EHD flows. In particular, in order to handle two-phase EHD flows with a relatively larger electric permittivity ratio, we also introduce a delicately designed discrete forcing term into the LB equation for electrostatic field. Moreover, some numerical examples including two-phase EHD flows in planar layers and charge diffusion of a Gaussian bell are simulated with the developed LB method. It is shown that our numerical scheme shares a second-order convergence rate in space in predicting electric potential and charge density. Finally, we used the current model to simulate the deformation of a droplet under an electric field and the dynamics of droplet detachment in reversed electrowetting. Our numerical results align well with the theoretic solutions, and the available experimental/numerical data, demonstrating that the proposed method is feasible for simulating two-phase EHD flows.