Evaporation of supercritical droplets in an electric field using molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

This paper studies the combined impacts of electric field and supercritical environment on the evaporation processes of a water droplet. The effects of electric field (0–1.2 V/Å), background temperature (600–1200 K), and pressure (6–56 MPa) on the droplet evaporation and deformation are considered. Simulation results reveal that water droplets would break out into small droplets, which could merge into a large droplet with relatively large electric field. The electric field also shows a dual impact on the evaporation processes. In particular, the evaporation rate would be accelerated first and then suppressed due to the interactions among these water molecules. This rate is not enlarged obviously with the threshold values of the varied combined fields.