Numerical study of breaking waves by a two‐phase flow model

A two‐phase flow model, which solves the flow in the air and water simultaneously, is presented for modelling breaking waves in deep and shallow water, including wave pre‐breaking, overturning and post‐breaking processes. The model is based on the Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations with the k ?ε turbulence model. The governing equations are solved by the finite volume method in a Cartesian staggered grid and the partial cell treatment is implemented to deal with complex geometries. The SIMPLE algorithm is utilised for the pressure‐velocity coupling and the air‐water interface is modelled by the interface capturing method via a high resolution volume of fluid scheme. The numerical model is validated by simulating overturning waves on a sloping beach and over a reef, and deep‐water breaking waves in a periodic domain, in which good agreement between numerical results and available experimental measurements for the water surface profiles during wave overturning is obtained. The overturning jet, air entrainment and splash‐up during wave breaking have been captured by the two‐phase flow model, which demonstrates the capability of the model to simulate free surface flow and wave breaking problems.Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A domain decomposition approach to compute wave breaking (wave‐breaking flows)

A heterogeneous domain decomposition approach is followed to simulate the unsteady wavy flow generated by a body moving beneath a free surface. Attention being focused on complex free surface configurations, including wave‐breaking phenomena, a two‐fluid viscous flow model is used in the free surface region to capture the air–water interface (via a level‐set technique), while a potential flow approximation is adopted to describe the flow far from the interface. Two coupling strategies are investigated, differing in the transmission conditions. Both the adopted approaches make use of the inviscid velocity field as boundary condition in the Navier–Stokes solution. For validation purposes, two different two‐dimensional non‐breaking flows are simulated. Domain decomposition results are compared with both fully viscous and fully inviscid results, obtained by solving the corresponding equations in the whole fluid domain, and with available experimental data. Finally, the unsteady evolution of a steep breaking wave is followed and some of the physical phenomena, experimentally observed, are reproduced. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of free‐surface flow using the level‐set method with global mass correction

A new numerical method that couples the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with the global mass correction level‐set method for simulating fluid problems with free surfaces and interfaces is presented in this paper. The finite volume method is used to discretize Navier–Stokes equations with the two‐step projection method on a staggered Cartesian grid. The free‐surface flow problem is solved on a fixed grid in which the free surface is captured by the zero level set. Mass conservation is improved significantly by applying a global mass correction scheme, in a novel combination with third‐order essentially non‐oscillatory schemes and a five stage Runge–Kutta method, to accomplish advection and re‐distancing of the level‐set function. The coupled solver is applied to simulate interface change and flow field in four benchmark test cases: (1) shear flow; (2) dam break; (3) travelling and reflection of solitary wave and (4) solitary wave over a submerged object. The computational results are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions, experimental data and previous numerical simulations using a RANS‐VOF method. The simulations reveal some interesting free‐surface phenomena such as the free‐surface vortices, air entrapment and wave deformation over a submerged object. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of unsteady multidimensional free surface motions by level set method

This paper presents a numerical method that couples the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with the level set method in a curvilinear co‐ordinate system for study of free surface flows. The finite volume method is used to discretize the governing equations on a non‐staggered grid with a four‐step fractional step method. The free surface flow problem is converted into a two‐phase flow system on a fixed grid in which the free surface is implicitly captured by the zero level set. We compare different numerical schemes for advection of the level set function in a generalized curvilinear format, including the third order quadratic upwind interpolation for convective kinematics (QUICK) scheme, and the second and third order essentially non‐oscillatory (ENO) schemes. The level set equations of evolution and reinitialization are validated with benchmark cases, e.g. a stationary circle, a rotating slotted disk and stretching of a circular fluid element. The coupled system is then applied to a travelling solitary wave, and two‐ and three‐dimensional dam breaking problems. Some interesting free surface phenomena are revealed by the computational results, such as, the large free surface vortices, air entrapment and splashing of the water surge front. The computational results are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions and experimental data, where they are available. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simulation of free surface waves for incompressible two‐phase flows using a curvilinear level set formulation

A level set formulation in a generalized curvilinear coordinate is developed to simulate the free surface waves generated by moving bodies or the sloshing of fluid in a container. The Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations are modified to account for variable density and viscosity in two‐phase (i.e. water–air) fluid flow systems. A local level set method is used to update the level set function and a least square technique adopted to re‐initialize it at each time step. To assess the developed algorithm and its versatility, a selection of different fluid–structure interaction problems are examined, i.e. an oscillating flow in a two‐dimensional square tank, a breaking dam involving different density fluids, sloshing in a two‐dimensional rectangular tank and a Wigley ship hull travelling in calm water. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi‐coupled air/water immersed boundary approach for curvilinear dynamic overset grids with application to ship hydrodynamics

For many problems in ship hydrodynamics, the effects of air flow on the water flow are negligible (the frequently called free surface conditions), but the air flow around the ship is still of interest. A method is presented where the water flow is decoupled from the air solution, but the air flow uses the unsteady water flow as a boundary condition. The authors call this a semi‐coupled air/water flow approach. The method can be divided into two steps. At each time step the free surface water flow is computed first with a single‐phase method assuming constant pressure and zero stress on the interface. The second step is to compute the air flow assuming the free surface as a moving immersed boundary (IB). The IB method developed for Cartesian grids (Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 2005; 37 :239–261) is extended to curvilinear grids, where no‐slip and continuity conditions are used to enforce velocity and pressure boundary conditions for the air flow. The forcing points close to the IB can be computed and corrected under a sharp interface condition, which makes the computation very stable. The overset implementation is similar to that of the single‐phase solver (Comput. Fluids 2007; 36 :1415–1433), with the difference that points in water are set as IB points even if they are fringe points. Pressure–velocity coupling through pressure implicit with splitting of operators or projection methods is used for water computations, and a projection method is used for the air. The method on each fluid is a single‐phase method, thus avoiding ill‐conditioned numerical systems caused by large differences of fluid properties between air and water. The computation is only slightly slower than the single‐phase version, with complete absence of spurious velocity oscillations near the free surface, frequently present in fully coupled approaches. Validations are performed for laminar Couette flow over a wavy boundary by comparing with the analytical solution, and for the surface combatant model David Taylor Model Basin (DTMB) 5512 by comparing with Experimental Fluid Dynamics (EFD) and the results of two‐phase level set computations. Complex flow computations are demonstrated for the ONR Tumblehome DTMB 5613 with superstructure subject to waves and wind, including 6DOF motions and broaching in SS7 irregular waves and wind. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulations of non‐equilibrium turbulent boundary layer flowing over a bump

Large‐eddy simulation (LES) and Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes simulation (RANS) with different turbulence models (including the standard k?ε, the standard k?ω, the shear stress transport k?ω (SST k?ω), and Spalart–Allmaras (S–A) turbulence models) have been employed to compute the turbulent flow of a two‐dimensional turbulent boundary layer over an unswept bump. The predictions of the simulations were compared with available experimental measurements in the literature. The comparisons of the LES and the SST k?ω model including the mean flow and turbulence stresses are in satisfied agreements with the available measurements. Although the flow experiences a strong adverse pressure gradient along the rear surface, the boundary layer is unique in that intermittent detachment occurring near the wall. The numerical results indicate that the boundary layer is not followed by mean‐flow separation or incipient separation as shown from the numerical results. The resolved turbulent shear stress is in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data, though the computational result of LES shows that its peak is overpredicted near the trailing edge of the bump, while the other used turbulence models, except the standard k?ε, underpredicts it. Analysis of the numerical results from LES confirms the experimental data, in which the existence of internal layers over the bump surface upstream of the summit and along the downstream flat plate. It also demonstrates that the quasi‐step increase in skin friction is due to perturbations in pressure gradient. The surface curvature enhances the near‐wall shear production of turbulent stresses, and is responsible for the formation of the internal layers. The aim of the present work is to examine the response and prediction capability of LES with the dynamic eddy viscosity model as a sub‐grid scale to the complex turbulence structure with the presence of streamline curvature generated by a bumpy surface. Aiming to reduce the computational costs with focus on the mean behavior of the non‐equilibrium turbulent boundary layer of flow over the bump surface, the present investigation also explains the best capability of one of the used RANS turbulence models to capture the driving mechanism for the surprisingly rapid return to equilibrium over the trailing flat plate found in the measurements. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A conservative local interface sharpening scheme for the constrained interpolation profile method

A conservative local interface sharpening scheme has been developed for the constrained interpolation profile method with the conservative semi‐Lagrangian scheme, because the conservative semi‐Lagrangian scheme does not feature a mechanism to control the interface thickness, thus causing an increase of numerical error with the advance of the time step. The proposed sharpening scheme is based on the conservative level set method proposed by Olsson and Kreiss. However, because their method can cause excessive deformation of the free‐surface in certain circumstances, we propose an improvement of the method by developing a local sharpening technique. Several advection tests are presented to assess the correctness of the advection and the improved interface sharpening scheme. This is followed by the validations of dam‐breaking flow and the rising bubble flows. The mass of the fluid is exactly conserved and the computed terminal velocity of the rising bubble agrees well with the experiments compared with other numerical methods such as the volume of fluid method (VOF), the front tracking method, and the level set method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of ship breaking bow waves and induced vortices and scars

An unsteady single‐phase level set RANS method is used to resolve and investigate bow wave breaking around a surface combatant advancing in calm water, including induced vortices and free surface scars. A level set free surface capturing approach was extended and combined with local overset grid refinement for resolution of complex interfacial topologies and small‐scale free surface features. Although the focus of the paper is on wave breaking at Fr=0.35, results over three speeds (Fr=0.28, 0.35, and 0.41) show that the method can accurately predict the changes in resistance and free surface topology, with the two highest speeds showing bow wave breaking. For the Fr=0.35 case, comparison of wave elevation results shows good agreement with the data, including the development and thickening of the bow wave sheet, sequential formation of two overturning plungers with reconnections, and the formation of two free surface scars at the reconnection sites. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution shows a steep shoulder wave, similar to the experiment, but does not predict the experimentally observed weak spilling breaking shoulder wave. Although the current predictions converge to steady state, the region of unsteady free surface measured experimentally can be reasonably well predicted from the region of the simulation where the wave slope exceeds 17°. Comparisons of velocity components and axial vorticity at four cross planes show that the method can accurately predict the wake of low axial velocity and vortical cross flow associated with the breaking bow wave. In addition, the simulation is used to explain the initial development of the overturning bow wave, induced vortices and scars and to fill in the relatively sparse experimental data set by providing a global picture of the axial vortex structure near the free surface. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coupled ghost fluid/two‐phase level set method for curvilinear body‐fitted grids

A coupled ghost fluid/two‐phase level set method to simulate air/water turbulent flow for complex geometries using curvilinear body‐fitted grids is presented. The proposed method is intended to treat ship hydrodynamics problems. The original level set method for moving interface flows was based on Heaviside functions to smooth all fluid properties across the interface. We call this the Heaviside function method (HFM). The HFM requires fine grids across the interface. The ghost fluid method (GFM) has been designed to explicitly enforce the interfacial jump conditions, but the implementation of the jump conditions in curvilinear grids is intricate. To overcome these difficulties a coupled GFM/HFM method was developed in which approximate jump conditions are derived for piezometric pressure and velocity and pressure gradients based on exact continuous velocity and stress and jump in momentum conditions with the jump in density maintained but continuity of the molecular and turbulent viscosities imposed. The implementation of the ghost points is such that no duplication of memory storage is necessary. The level set method is adopted to locate the air/water interface, and a fast marching method was implemented in curvilinear grids to reinitialize the level set function. Validations are performed for three tests: super‐ and sub‐critical flow without wave breaking and an impulsive plunging wave breaking over 2D submerged bumps, and the flow around surface combatant model DTMB 5512. Comparisons are made against experimental data, HFM and single‐phase level set computations. The proposed method performed very well and shows great potential to treat complicated turbulent flows related to ship flows. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A coupled level set and volume-of-fluid method for sharp interface simulation of plunging breaking waves

A coupled level set and volume-of-fluid (CLSVOF) method is implemented for the numerical simulations of interfacial flows in ship hydrodynamics. The interface is reconstructed via a piecewise linear interface construction scheme and is advected using a Lagrangian method with a second-order Runge–Kutta scheme for time integration. The level set function is re-distanced based on the reconstructed interface with an efficient re-distance algorithm. This level set re-distance algorithm significantly simplifies the complicated geometric procedure and is especially efficient for three-dimensional (3D) cases. The CLSVOF scheme is incorporated into CFDShip-Iowa version 6, a sharp interface Cartesian grid solver for two-phase incompressible flows with the interface represented by the level set method and the interface jump conditions handled using a ghost fluid methodology. The performance of the CLSVOF method is first evaluated through the numerical benchmark tests with prescribed velocity fields, which shows superior mass conservation property over the level set method. With combination of the flow solver, a gas bubble rising in a viscous liquid and a water drop impact onto a deep water pool are modeled. The computed results are compared with the available numerical and experimental results, and good agreement is obtained. Wave breaking of a steep Stokes wave is also modeled and the results are very close to the available numerical results. Finally, plunging wave breaking over a submerged bump is simulated. The overall wave breaking process and major events are identified from the wave profiles of the simulations, which are qualitatively validated by the complementary experimental data. The flow structures are also compared with the experimental data, and similar flow trends have been observed.     

Solving viscoelastic free surface flows of a second‐order fluid using a marker‐and‐cell approach

This work is concerned with the numerical simulation of two‐dimensional viscoelastic free surface flows of a second‐order fluid. The governing equations are solved by a finite difference technique based on the marker‐and‐cell philosophy. A staggered grid is employed and marker particles are used to represent the fluid free surface. Full details for the approximation of the free surface stress conditions are given. The resultant code is validated and convergence is demonstrated. Numerical simulations of the extrudate swell and flow through a planar 4:1 contraction for various values of the Deborah number are presented. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convected level set method for the numerical simulation of fluid buckling

‘Fluid buckling’ is a phenomenon characterized mainly by the existence of fluid toroidal oscillations during flow. It appears when a high viscosity fluid flows vertically against a flat surface and may occur in industrial applications, as in injection molding of a propergol in complex‐shaped cavities. These coiling or folding oscillations appear during the mold filling stage, leading to air entrapment. To understand and to model this free surface flow problem, a convected level set method is proposed. First, a sinus filter is applied to the distance function to get a smooth truncation far from the interface. Second, the reinitialization is embedded in the transport equation model, avoiding it as a separate step during calculation. In order to validate the method, numerical results are presented on classical interface capturing benchmarks. Finally, results are shown on two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional viscous jet buckling problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A level set approach for computing solutions to inviscid compressible flow with moving solid boundary using fixed Cartesian grids

A level set approach for computing solutions to inviscid compressible flow with moving solid surface is presented. The solid surface is considered to be sharp and is described as the zero level set of a smooth explicit function of space and time. The finite volume TVD–MacCormack's two‐step procedure is used. The boundary conditions on the solid surface are easily implemented by defining the smooth level set function. The present treatment of the level set method allows the handling of fluid flows in the presence of irregularly shaped solid boundaries, escaping from the bookkeeping complexity in the so‐called ‘surface‐tracking’ method. Using the proposed numerical techniques, a two‐dimensional numerical simulation is made to investigate the aerodynamic phenomena induced by two high‐speed trains passing by each other in a tunnel. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extension of a high‐resolution scheme to 1D liquid–gas flow

This paper presents the extension of a high‐resolution conservative scheme to the one‐dimensional one‐pressure six‐equation two‐fluid flow model. Only mixtures of water and air have been considered in this study, both fluids have been characterized using simple equations of state, namely stiffened gas for the liquid phase and perfect gas for the gas phase. The resulting scheme is explicit and first‐order accurate in space and time. A second‐order version of the scheme has also been derived using the MUSCL strategy and slope limiters. Some numerical results show the good capabilities of this type of schemes in the solution of discontinuities in two‐fluid flow problems, all of them are based on water/air numerical benchmarks widely used in the two‐phase flow literature. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

URANS simulations for a high-speed transom stern ship with breaking waves

An exploratory study of high-speed surface ship flows is performed to identify modelling and numerical issues, to test the predictive capability of an unsteady RANS method for such flows, to explain flow features observed experimentally, and to document results obtained in conjunction with the 2005 ONR Wave Breaking Workshop. Simulations are performed for a high-speed transom stern ship (R/V Athena I) at three speeds Froude number (Fr) = 0.25, 0.43 and 0.62 with the URANS code CFDSHIP-IOWA, which utilizes a single-phase level set method for free surface modelling. The two largest Fr are considered to be high-speed cases and exhibit strong breaking plunging bow waves. Structured overset grids are used for local refinement of the unsteady transom flow at medium speed and for small scale breaking bow and transom waves at high-speeds. All simulations are performed in a time accurate manner and an examination of time histories of resistance and free surface contours is used to assess the degree to which the solutions reach a steady state. The medium speed simulation shows a classical steady Kelvin wave pattern without breaking and a wetted naturally unsteady transom flow with shedding of vortices from the transom corner. At higher speeds, the solutions reach an essentially steady state and display intense bow wave breaking with repeated reconnection of the plunging breaker with the free surface, resulting in multiple free surface scars. The high-speed simulations also show a dry transom and an inboard breaking wave, followed by outboard breaking waves downstream. In comparison to an earlier dataset, resistance is well predicted over the three speeds. The free surface predictions are compared with recent measurements at the two lowest speeds and show good agreement for both non-breaking and breaking waves.     

Numerical simulations of fluid–structure interaction based on Cartesian grids with two boundary velocities

This work proposes an innovative numerical method for simulating the interaction of fluid with irregularly shaped stationary structures based on Cartesian grids. Instead of prescribing an artificial force to enforce the no‐slip boundary condition at the solid–fluid interface, this work imposes two boundary velocities, referred to as the solid and mass‐conserving boundary velocities, to satisfy the no‐slip boundary condition and mass conservation in the ghost cells around the immersed solid boundary. Both the traditional level set method [41] and the hybrid particle level set method [45] were used to represent the solid boundary and the complex free‐surface evolution, respectively. Consequently, the boundary velocities close to the immersed solid boundary can be determined in terms of the level set function and the neighboring fluid velocity. The projection method is further modified to incorporate the solid and mass‐conserving boundary velocities into the solution algorithm. A series of numerical experiments were conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. They involved uniform flow past a stationary circular cylinder and the propagation of water waves over a submerged trapezoidal breakwater. Comparisons between the numerical results and experimental data showed very good agreement in all cases of interest. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An adaptive numerical scheme for solving incompressible 2‐phase and free‐surface flows

In this paper, we present a numerical scheme for solving 2‐phase or free‐surface flows. Here, the interface/free surface is modeled using the level‐set formulation, and the underlying mesh is adapted at each iteration of the flow solver. This adaptation allows us to obtain a precise approximation for the interface/free‐surface location. In addition, it enables us to solve the time‐discretized fluid equation only in the fluid domain in the case of free‐surface problems. Fluids here are considered incompressible. Therefore, their motion is described by the incompressible Navier‐Stokes equation, which is temporally discretized using the method of characteristics and is solved at each time iteration by a first‐order Lagrange‐Galerkin method. The level‐set function representing the interface/free surface satisfies an advection equation that is also solved using the method of characteristics. The algorithm is completed by some intermediate steps like the construction of a convenient initial level‐set function (redistancing) as well as the construction of a convenient flow for the level‐set advection equation. Numerical results are presented for both bifluid and free‐surface problems.     

Numerical simulation of bubble and droplet deformation by a level set approach with surface tension in three dimensions

In this paper we present a three‐dimensional Navier–Stokes solver for incompressible two‐phase flow problems with surface tension and apply the proposed scheme to the simulation of bubble and droplet deformation. One of the main concerns of this study is the impact of surface tension and its discretization on the overall convergence behavior and conservation properties. Our approach employs a standard finite difference/finite volume discretization on uniform Cartesian staggered grids and uses Chorin's projection approach. The free surface between the two fluid phases is tracked with a level set (LS) technique. Here, the interface conditions are implicitly incorporated into the momentum equations by the continuum surface force method. Surface tension is evaluated using a smoothed delta function and a third‐order interpolation. The problem of mass conservation for the two phases is treated by a reinitialization of the LS function employing a regularized signum function and a global fixed point iteration. All convective terms are discretized by a WENO scheme of fifth order. Altogether, our approach exhibits a second‐order convergence away from the free surface. The discretization of surface tension requires a smoothing scheme near the free surface, which leads to a first‐order convergence in the smoothing region. We discuss the details of the proposed numerical scheme and present the results of several numerical experiments concerning mass conservation, convergence of curvature, and the application of our solver to the simulation of two rising bubble problems, one with small and one with large jumps in material parameters, and the simulation of a droplet deformation due to a shear flow in three space dimensions. Furthermore, we compare our three‐dimensional results with those of quasi‐two‐dimensional and two‐dimensional simulations. This comparison clearly shows the need for full three‐dimensional simulations of droplet and bubble deformation to capture the correct physical behavior. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.