A projection scheme for incompressible multiphase flow using adaptive Eulerian grid

This paper presents a finite element method for incompressible multiphase flows with capillary interfaces based on a (formally) second‐order projection scheme. The discretization is on a fixed Eulerian grid. The fluid phases are identified and advected using a level set function. The grid is temporarily adapted around the interfaces in order to maintain optimal interpolations accounting for the pressure jump and the discontinuity of the normal velocity derivatives. The least‐squares method for computing the curvature is used, combined with piecewise linear approximation to the interface. The time integration is based on a formally second order splitting scheme. The convection substep is integrated over an Eulerian grid using an explicit scheme. The remaining generalized Stokes problem is solved by means of a formally second order pressure‐stabilized projection scheme. The pressure boundary condition on the free interface is imposed in a strong form (pointwise) at the pressure‐computation substep. This allows capturing significant pressure jumps across the interface without creating spurious instabilities. This method is simple and efficient, as demonstrated by the numerical experiments on a wide range of free‐surface problems. Copyright © 2004 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.     

A marker‐and‐cell approach to free surface 2‐D multiphase flows

This work describes a methodology to simulate free surface incompressible multiphase flows. This novel methodology allows the simulation of multiphase flows with an arbitrary number of phases, each of them having different densities and viscosities. Surface and interfacial tension effects are also included. The numerical technique is based on the GENSMAC front‐tracking method. The velocity field is computed using a finite‐difference discretization of a modification of the Navier–Stokes equations. These equations together with the continuity equation are solved for the two‐dimensional multiphase flows, with different densities and viscosities in the different phases. The governing equations are solved on a regular Eulerian grid, and a Lagrangian mesh is employed to track free surfaces and interfaces. The method is validated by comparing numerical with analytic results for a number of simple problems; it was also employed to simulate complex problems for which no analytic solutions are available. The method presented in this paper has been shown to be robust and computationally efficient. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Momentum‐based approximation of incompressible multiphase fluid flows

We introduce a time stepping technique using the momentum as dependent variable to solve incompressible multiphase problems. The main advantage of this approach is that the mass matrix is time‐independent making this technique suitable for spectral methods. A level set method is applied to reconstruct the fluid properties such as density. We also introduce a stabilization method using an entropy‐viscosity technique and a compression technique to limit the flattening of the level set function. We extend our algorithm to immiscible conducting fluids by coupling the incompressible Navier‐Stokes and the Maxwell equations. We validate the proposed algorithm against analytical and manufactured solutions. Results on test cases such as Newton's bucket problem and a variation thereof are provided. Surface tension effects are tested on benchmark problems involving bubbles. A numerical simulation of a phenomenon related to the industrial production of aluminium is presented at the end of the paper.     

Finite‐element/level‐set/operator‐splitting (FELSOS) approach for computing two‐fluid unsteady flows with free moving interfaces

The present work is devoted to the study on unsteady flows of two immiscible viscous fluids separated by free moving interface. Our goal is to elaborate a unified strategy for numerical modelling of two‐fluid interfacial flows, having in mind possible interface topology changes (like merger or break‐up) and realistically wide ranges for physical parameters of the problem. The proposed computational approach essentially relies on three basic components: the finite element method for spatial approximation, the operator‐splitting for temporal discretization and the level‐set method for interface representation. We show that the finite element implementation of the level‐set approach brings some additional benefits as compared to the standard, finite difference level‐set realizations. In particular, the use of finite elements permits to localize the interface precisely, without introducing any artificial parameters like the interface thickness; it also allows to maintain the second‐order accuracy of the interface normal, curvature and mass conservation. The operator‐splitting makes it possible to separate all major difficulties of the problem and enables us to implement the equal‐order interpolation for the velocity and pressure. Diverse numerical examples including simulations of bubble dynamics, bifurcating jet flow and Rayleigh–Taylor instability are presented to validate the computational method. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A volume-of-fluid method for incompressible free surface flows

This paper proposes a hybrid volume-of-fluid (VOF) level-set method for simulating incompressible two-phase flows. Motion of the free surface is represented by a VOF algorithm that uses high resolution differencing schemes to algebraically preserve both the sharpness of interface and the boundedness of volume fraction. The VOF method is specifically based on a simple order high resolution scheme lower than that of a comparable method, but still leading to a nearly equivalent order of accuracy. Retaining the mass conservation property, the hybrid algorithm couples the proposed VOF method with a level-set distancing algorithm in an implicit manner when the normal and the curvature of the interface need to be accurate for consideration of surface tension. For practical purposes, it is developed to be efficiently and easily extensible to three-dimensional applications with a minor implementation complexity. The accuracy and convergence properties of the method are verified through a wide range of tests: advection of rigid interfaces of different shapes, a three-dimensional air bubble's rising in viscous liquids, a two-dimensional dam-break, and a three-dimensional dam-break over an obstacle mounted on the bottom of a tank. The standard advection tests show that the volume advection algorithm is comparable in accuracy with geometric interface reconstruction algorithms of higher accuracy than other interface capturing-based methods found in the literature. The numerical results for the remainder of tests show a good agreement with other numerical solutions or available experimental data. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A semi‐Lagrangian level set method for incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with free surface

In this paper, we formulate a level set method in the framework of finite elements‐semi‐Lagrangian methods to compute the solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with free surface. In our formulation, we use a quasi‐monotone semi‐Lagrangian scheme, which is both unconditionally stable and essentially non oscillatory, to compute the advective terms in the Navier–Stokes equations, the transport equation and the equation of the reinitialization stage for the level set function. The method we propose is quite robust and flexible with regard to the mesh and the geometry of the domain, as well as the magnitude of the Reynolds number. We illustrate the performance of the method in several examples, which range from a benchmark problem to test the volume conservation property of the method to the flow past a NACA0012 foil at high Reynolds number. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new implicit surface tension implementation for interfacial flows

A new implementation of surface tension effects in interfacial flow codes is proposed which is both fully implicit in space, that is the interface never has to be reconstructed, and also semi‐implicit in time, with semi‐implicit referring to the time integration of the surface tension forces. The main idea is to combine two previously separate techniques to yield a new expression for the capillary forces. The first is the continuum surface force (CSF) method, which is used to regularize the discontinuous surface tension force term. The regularization can be elegantly implemented with the use of distance functions, which makes the level set method a suitable choice for the interface‐tracking algorithm. The second is to use a finite element discretization together with the Laplace–Beltrami operator, which enables simple reformulation of the surface tension term into its semi‐implicit equivalent. The performance of the new method is benchmarked against standard explicit methods, where it is shown that the new method is significantly more robust for the chosen test problems when the time steps exceed the numerical capillary time step restriction. Some improvements are also found in the average number of nonlinear iterations and linear multigrid steps taken while solving the momentum equations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The characteristic‐based split (CBS) meshfree method for free surface flow problems in ALE formulation

A semi‐implicit characteristic‐based split (CBS) meshfree algorithm in the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) framework is proposed for the numerical solution of incompressible free surface flow problem in the paper. The algorithm is the extension of general CBS method which was initially introduced in finite element framework, this is due to the fact that CBS method not only can enhance the stability, but also avoid LBB condition when equal order basis function is used to approximate velocity and pressure variables. Meanwhile, a simple way for node update and node speed calculation is developed which is used to capture the free surface exactly. The numerical solutions are compared with available analytical and numerical solutions, which shows that the proposed method has better ability to simulate the free surface incompressible flow problem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validation of the S‐CLSVOF method with the density‐scaled balanced continuum surface force model in multiphase systems coupled with thermocapillary flows

Three numerical methods, namely, volume of fluid (VOF), simple coupled volume of fluid with level set (S‐CLSVOF), and S‐CLSVOF with the density‐scaled balanced continuum surface force (CSF) model, have been incorporated into OpenFOAM source code and were validated for their accuracy for three cases: (i) an isothermal static case, (ii) isothermal dynamic cases, and (iii) non‐isothermal dynamic cases with thermocapillary flow including dynamic interface deformation. Results have shown that the S‐CLSVOF method gives accurate results in the test cases with mild computation conditions, and the S‐CLSVOF technique with the density‐scaled balanced CSF model leads to accurate results in the cases of large interface deformations and large density and viscosity ratios. These show that these high accuracy methods would be appropriate to obtain accurate predictions in multiphase flow systems with thermocapillary flows. Copyright © 2016 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.     

Incompressible multiphase flow and encapsulation simulations using the moment‐of‐fluid method

A moment‐of‐fluid method is presented for computing solutions to incompressible multiphase flows in which the number of materials can be greater than two. In this work, the multimaterial moment‐of‐fluid interface representation technique is applied to simulating surface tension effects at points where three materials meet. The advection terms are solved using a directionally split cell integrated semi‐Lagrangian algorithm, and the projection method is used to evaluate the pressure gradient force term. The underlying computational grid is a dynamic block‐structured adaptive grid. The new method is applied to multiphase problems illustrating contact‐line dynamics, triple junctions, and encapsulation in order to demonstrate its capabilities. Examples are given in two‐dimensional, three‐dimensional axisymmetric (R–Z), and three‐dimensional (X–Y–Z) coordinate systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantitative comparison of Taylor flow simulations based on sharp‐interface and diffuse‐interface models

A pressure‐driven flow of elongated bullet‐shaped bubbles in a narrow channel is known as Taylor flow or bubble‐train flow. This process is of relevance in various applications of chemical engineering. In this paper, we describe a typical simplified experimental setting, with surface tension, density and viscosity as prescribed input parameters. We compare a sharp‐interface model based on a moving grid aligned with the bubble boundary (ALE coordinates) and a diffuse‐interface model where the bubble shape is implicitly given by a phase‐field function. Four independent implementations based on the two modeling approaches are introduced and described briefly. Besides the simulation of the bubble shapes, we compare some resulting quantities such as pressure difference and film widths within the implementations and to existing analytical and experimental results. The simulations were conducted in 2D and 3D (rotationally symmetric). Good accordance of the results indicate the applicability and the usability of all approaches. Differences between the models and their implementations are visible but in no contradiction to theoretical results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A projection scheme for incompressible multiphase flow using adaptive Eulerian grid: 3D validation

A three‐dimensional finite element method for incompressible multiphase flows with capillary interfaces is developed based on a (formally) second‐order projection scheme. The discretization is on a fixed (Eulerian) reference grid with an edge‐based local h‐refinement in the neighbourhood of the interfaces. The fluid phases are identified and advected using the level‐set function. The reference grid is then temporarily reconnected around the interface to maintain optimal interpolations accounting for the singularities of the primary variables. Using a time splitting procedure, the convection substep is integrated with an explicit scheme. The remaining generalized Stokes problem is solved by means of a pressure‐stabilized projection. This method is simple and efficient, as demonstrated by a wide range of difficult free‐surface validation problems, considered in the paper. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The solution of two‐dimensional free‐surface problems using automatic mesh generation

A new method is described for the iterative solution of two‐dimensional free‐surface problems, with arbitrary initial geometries, in which the interior of the domain is represented by an unstructured, triangular Eulerian mesh and the free surface is represented directly by the piecewise‐quadratic edges of the isoparametric quadratic‐velocity, linear‐pressure Taylor–Hood elements. At each time step, the motion of the free surface is computed explicitly using the current velocity field and, once the new free‐surface location has been found, the interior nodes of the mesh are repositioned using a continuous deformation model that preserves the original connectivity. In the event that the interior of the domain must be completely remeshed, a standard Delaunay triangulation algorithm is used, which leaves the initial boundary discretisation unchanged. The algorithm is validated via the benchmark viscous flow problem of the coalescence of two infinite cylinders of equal radius, in which the motion is due entirely to the action of capillary forces on the free surface. This problem has been selected for a variety of reasons: the initial and final (steady state) geometries differ considerably; in the passage from the former to the latter, large free‐surface curvatures—requiring accurate modelling—are encountered; an analytical solution is known for the location of the free surface; there exists a large body of literature on alternative numerical simulations. A novel feature of the present work is its geometric generality and robustness; it does not require a priori knowledge of either the evolving domain geometry or the solution contained therein. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity equation method for the Navier‐Stokes equations applied to uncertainty propagation

This works deals with sensitivity analysis (SA) for the Navier‐Stokes equations. The aim is to provide an estimate of the variance of the velocity field when some of the parameters are uncertain and then to use the variance to compute confidence intervals for the output of the model. First, we introduce the physical model and analyze its stability. The sensitivity equations are derived, and their stability analyzed as well. We propose a finite element‐volume numerical scheme for the state and the sensitivity, which is integrated into the open‐source industrial code TrioCFD. Finally, we present some numerical results: a steady and an unsteady test case for the channel flow problem are investigated. For the steady case, we compare the results to the Monte Carlo method and show how the SA technique succeeds in providing very accurate estimates of the variance. For the unsteady case, a new filtering procedure is proposed to deal with a sensitivity that grows in time. The filtered sensitivity is then used to compute the variance of the output and to provide confidence intervals.     

A promising boundary element formulation for three‐dimensional viscous flow

In this paper, a new set of boundary‐domain integral equations is derived from the continuity and momentum equations for three‐dimensional viscous flows. The primary variables involved in these integral equations are velocity, traction, and pressure. The final system of equations entering the iteration procedure only involves velocities and tractions as unknowns. In the use of the continuity equation, a complex‐variable technique is used to compute the divergence of velocity for internal points, while the traction‐recovery method is adopted for boundary points. Although the derived equations are valid for steady, unsteady, compressible, and incompressible problems, the numerical implementation is only focused on steady incompressible flows. Two commonly cited numerical examples and one practical pipe flow problem are presented to validate the derived equations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wet/dry areas method for interfacial (free surface) flow

In this paper, a new numerical method is developed for two‐dimensional interfacial (free surface) flows, based on the control volume method and conservative integral form of the Navier–Stokes equations with a standard staggered grid. The new method deploys two continuity equations, the continuity equation of the mass conservation for better convergence of the implicit scheme and the continuity equation of the volume conservation for the equation of pressure correction. The convection terms (the total momentum flux) on the surfaces of control volume are accurately calculated from the wet area exposed to the water, and the dry area exposed to the air. The numerical results produced by the new numerical method agree very well with the analytical solution, experimental images and experimentally measured velocity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An implicit 2D hydrodynamic numerical model for free surface–subsurface coupled flow problems

A 2‐dimensional hydrodynamic finite volume model has been proposed for simultaneous simulation of free surface and saturated porous media. The governing equations of the former are 2‐dimensional averaged in a unit width of Navier‐Stokes, whereas that of the latter are Darcy law. An efficient, simple, and stable algorithm has been proposed to track the surface elevation in Cartesian coordinate system by which the water elevation in each computational column has been computed along with the other pressure unknowns simultaneously. The surface position has not been considered to remain in a specific layer so the number of cells in each column have been variably adjusted in accordance with the water surface elevation. Performance of the coupled model has been validated against a range of hydrodynamic problems including propagation of linear short wave, seepage test, tidal oscillation in a lagoon system, gravity current, and saltwater intrusion. Comparison between numerical results, analytical solutions, and experimental data demonstrates that the model represents well the interacting surface water and ground water flow and solute transport processes.