Displacement and Rupture of Viscous Interface in the Vicinity of the Wall under an Air Current

The paper investigates the deformation of a viscous fluid in a confined air current. The main goal of the study is to model the displacement of the fluid at the wall, in relation to the dynamics of the interface and its rupture. Numerical simulations in planar configuration are performed using the VoF code from Fluent. The numerics confirm, qualitatively, the visualized deformation over time of the air-fluid interface under a constant air velocity. The distribution of the wall shear stress is analyzed and corelated with the breakup of the fluid interface. The study has direct applications in modeling the flow of mucus in the tracheal bifurcation during the respiratory cycle.