Simulating sedimentation of liquid drops

This work was carried out to investigate the effect of fluid properties on the flow pattern and on the sedimentation velocity of an axisymmetric steady flow of a Newtonian fluid past a liquid drop in an unbounded region. The governing equations of motion were solved by the finite element method. The results show that the flow pattern of a liquid drop depends strongly both on the Reynolds number and on the ratio of the viscosity between the drop and the surrounding flowing fluids. The viscosity ratio in the range 0.02 < ∗ < 50 has appreciable effect on the drag coefficient. Finally, a correlation for the sedimentation velocity is presented