Author(s)

S.P. Song and B.Q. Li

Abstract

A coupled finite element and boundary element method has been developed to predict the induced electromagnetic field and free surface shapes of droplets levitated in an alternating magnetic field. The computational algorithm entails the application of the boundary elements in the region of free space and the finite elements in the droplet region, the two being coupled along the droplet-air interface. The coupled BE/FE scheme is further integrated with a WRM- based algorithm to predict the free surface deformation of magnetically-levitated droplets. Detailed formulation is presented. Several corner treatments for the BE/FE coupling and free surface calculations are described. A selection of computed results are presented for liquid droplets suspended by

Keywords