Thermohydrodynamics of fluid with moving boundary and phase change

In this study, the process of solidification of fluid with free surface in contact with a solid wall was investigated numerically and experimentally, where temperature of the solid wall was lower than the freezing point of the fluid. In the experiment, we selected a single liquid metal droplet as fluid, and freezing process and transformation of the droplet were observed using a high-speed camera. Furthermore, the computer code, which was developed by the authors based on a finite difference method, was employed to analyze the phase change and free-surface problems. The numerical results of the transformation of the droplet agreed well with the experimental ones. The analyses showed the intermittent growth of liquid film and the piling steps of solidified layer.