The multicomponent diffuse-interface model and its application to water/air interfaces

Abstract: Fundamental properties of the multicomponent diffuse-interface model (DIM), such as the maximum entropy principle and conservation laws, are used to explore the basic interfacial dynamics and phase transitions in fluids. Flat interfaces with monotonically-changing densities of the components are proved to be stable. A liquid layer in contact with oversaturated but stable vapour is shown to either fully evaporate or eternally expand (depending on the initial perturbation), whereas a liquid in contact with saturated vapour always evaporates. If vapour is bounded by a solid wall with a sufficiently large contact angle, spontaneous condensation occurs in the vapour. The external parameters of the multicomponent DIM -- e.g., the Korteweg matrix describing the long-range intermolecular forces -- are determined for the water-air combination. The Soret and Dufour effects are shown to be negligible in this case, and the interfacial flow, close to isothermal.