Comparative Surface Thermodynamic Analysis of New Fluid Phase Formation in Various Confining Geometries

• Author / Creator

  Zargarzadeh, Leila

• For a pure bulk (unconfined) fluid, phase transition happens at the saturation pressure. In contrast, for a fluid inside a confinement of small size (commonly below micrometers), vapour and liquid coexistence may happen at pressures other than the saturation pressure; or an expected phase transition might be prevented due to tight confinement of a specific geometry. Practical examples include fluids confined in miniaturized systems, catalysts, membranes, and reservoir rocks.
  This thesis makes a comparative study, using thermodynamic stability analysis, of new phase formation out of a confined fluid, for three different confinement geometries of conical pit, plate‒plate, and sphere‒plate. Both the formation of liquid out of vapour and vapour out of liquid are studied for each geometry. Effects of different parameters: the equilibrium contact angle, the confinement solid separation, and the sphere size for the sphere‒plate case, are investigated. The conclusions of this comparative study are extendable to other geometries.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Capillary condensation
  • Liquid bridge
  • Confined fluid
  • Confining geometry
  • Thermodynamic stability analysis
  • Vapour bridge
  • Capillary evaporation

• Graduation date

  Spring 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R31S50

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.