Simulation of Meniscus Motion and Evaporation for Convective Deposition Manufacturing

Convective deposition is a convenient and rapid manufacturing process used to deposit uniform microand nano-particle crystal. Convective deposition is a typical multiphysics transport process driven by evaporation of a moving meniscus. In this work we solve fluid dynamics, heat transfer and mass transfer equations in a deforming geometry using a moving mesh (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Euler, ALE) method. Weak form equations for mesh deformation, fluid dynamics, heat transfer and mass transfer are derived in order to be implemented in COMSOL, and a special focus is placed on the representation of free surfaces. The following results are discussed: flow pattern in liquid domain, evaporative flux of free surface and evolution of free surface.