Vitor Heitor Cardoso Cunha
About
Curious scientist, engineer, and painter from Rio de Janeiro studying surface phenomena across scales. Postdoctoral researcher at PoreLab. Research integrates DFT and MD to probe interfacial physics in solid–liquid–gas systems, linking molecular structure to macroscopic transport. Emphasis on materials chemistry and on quantifying how transport properties depend on length scale, pressure, and temperature.
Research
My research centers on understanding liquid-vapor phase transitions in sub-micron systems, with a particular focus on the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of these processes. I employ phase field methods to capture the diffuse interface between liquid and vapor, which is especially important when investigating surface phenomena such as evaporation and condensation in droplets and ultrathin films. I also rely on density gradient theory to characterize how surface processes unfold over time.
In addition to these classical modeling approaches, I am exploring scientific machine learning techniques for fluid mechanics applications. Specifically, I am investigating a class of deep learning models known as neural operators, which can learn how the liquid-vapor interface evolves from fundamental thermodynamic principles. One of the exciting prospects of neural operators is their “super-resolution” capability: they can infer high-resolution behavior (such as a finely resolved diffuse interface) even from coarser simulations. This property holds promise for creating mesh-invariant surrogate models that preserve physical accuracy while also remaining computationally scalable.
Publications
2024
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Cunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso;
Hahn, Julián Nicolás Garcia;
Dorao, Carlos Alberto;
Fernandino, Maria.
(2024)
Investigation of the effect of curvature on the local mass flux of evaporating droplets using a phase field method.
International Journal of Multiphase Flow
Academic article
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Cunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso;
Dorao, Carlos Alberto;
Fernandino, Maria.
(2024)
Influence of liquid-vapor phase change on the self-propelled motion of droplets on wettability gradient surfaces.
Physics of Fluids
Academic article
Journal publications
-
Cunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso;
Hahn, Julián Nicolás Garcia;
Dorao, Carlos Alberto;
Fernandino, Maria.
(2024)
Investigation of the effect of curvature on the local mass flux of evaporating droplets using a phase field method.
International Journal of Multiphase Flow
Academic article
-
Cunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso;
Dorao, Carlos Alberto;
Fernandino, Maria.
(2024)
Influence of liquid-vapor phase change on the self-propelled motion of droplets on wettability gradient surfaces.
Physics of Fluids
Academic article
Outreach
2024
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Academic lectureCunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso; Dorao, Carlos Alberto; Fernandino, Maria. (2024) A diffuse interface model for liquid-vapor phase transitions of deformed droplets based on van der Waals' gradient theory. 9th European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering (ECCOMAS 2024) , Lisbon 2024-06-03 - 2024-06-07
2023
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Academic lectureCunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso; Dorao, Carlos Alberto; Fernandino, Maria. (2023) Condensation of a sessile droplet on a surface with a wettability gradient. 22nd Computational Fluids Conference (CFC2023) 2023-04-25 - 2023-04-28
2022
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Academic lectureCunha, Vitor Heitor Cardoso; Dorao, Carlos Alberto; Fernandino, Maria. (2022) Evaporation of a Suspended Droplet Using a Space-Time Least-Squares Spectral Element Method with C1 Hermite Elements for the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg Equations. 8th European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering (ECCOMAS Congress 2022) , Oslo 2022-06-05 - 2022-06-09