A Lagrangian boundary element approach to transient three‐dimensional free surface flow in thin cavities

The lubrication theory is extended for transient free‐surface flow of a viscous fluid inside a three‐dimensional thin cavity. The problem is closely related to the filling stage during the injection molding process. The pressure, which in this case is governed by the Laplace's equation, is determined using the boundary element method. A fully Lagrangian approach is implemented for the tracking of the evolving free surface. The domain of computation is the projection of the physical domain onto the (x, y) plane. This approach is valid for simple and complex cavities as illustrated for the cases of a flat plate and a curved plate. It is found that the flow behavior is strongly influenced by the shape of the initial fluid domain, the shape of the cavity, and inlet flow pressure. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid spectral/finite‐difference to transient free‐surface flow inside thin symmetric cavities of longitudinally varying thickness

The lubrication theory is extended for transient free‐surface flow of a viscous fluid inside three‐dimensional symmetric thin cavities of thickness that varies in the flow direction. The problem is first formulated for a cavity of arbitrary shape. The moving domain is mapped onto a rectangular domain at each time step of the computation. The pressure, which in this case is governed by the modified Laplace's equation, is expanded in a Fourier series in the spanwise direction. The expansion coefficients are obtained using the finite‐difference method. Only a few modes are usually needed to secure convergence. The flow behaviour is strongly influenced by the cavity thickness. The flows inside a straight, contracting, expanding, and modulated cavities are examined. It is found that while the evolution of the front is always monotonic with time, that of the velocity at the front can be oscillatory if the degree of contraction of the cavity (whether modulated or not) is significant. The velocity of the contact point along the lateral walls is usually larger than that at the front, leading to the straightening of the front. However, for modulated cavities, the front may advance at a faster rate, leading to its own undulation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A low‐dimensional description of transient shear‐thinning free‐surface flow in thin cavities,as applied to injection molding

A spectral methodology is proposed to examine the influence of shear thinning on the transient free‐surface flow inside a three‐dimensional thin cavity. The problem is closely related to the filling stage during the injection molding process. The moving domain is mapped onto a rectangular domain at each time step of the computation. A modified pressure is introduced that is governed by the Laplace's equation. The flow field is expanded in Fourier series along the lateral direction in the mapped domain, and the Galerkin projection is used to derive the equations that govern the expansion coefficients, which are solved using a variable‐step finite‐difference scheme. This approach is valid for simple and complex cavities as illustrated for the cases of a flat plate with variable and constant thickness. It is shown that, even for highly non‐linear shear‐thinning flow, only a few modes are needed for convergence. Shear thinning generally influences the flow behaviour. However, shear thinning may enhance or prohibit the flow, depending whether the flow rate at the entrance of the cavity is fast or slow, respectively. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stabilized Nitsche‐type extended embedding mesh approach for 3D low‐ and high‐Reynolds‐number flows

This paper presents a stabilized extended finite element method (XFEM) based fluid formulation to embed arbitrary fluid patches into a fixed background fluid mesh. The new approach is highly beneficial when it comes to computational grid generation for complex domains, as it allows locally increased resolutions independent from size and structure of the background mesh. Motivating applications for such a domain decomposition technique are complex fluid‐structure interaction problems, where an additional boundary layer mesh is used to accurately capture the flow around the structure. The objective of this work is to provide an accurate and robust XFEM‐based coupling for low‐ as well as high‐Reynolds‐number flows. Our formulation is built from the following essential ingredients: Coupling conditions on the embedded interface are imposed weakly using Nitsche's method supported by extra terms to guarantee mass conservation and to control the convective mass transport across the interface for transient viscous‐dominated and convection‐dominated flows. Residual‐based fluid stabilizations in the interior of the fluid subdomains and accompanying face‐oriented fluid and ghost‐penalty stabilizations in the interface zone stabilize the formulation in the entire fluid domain. A detailed numerical study of our stabilized embedded fluid formulation, including an investigation of variants of Nitsche's method for viscous flows, shows optimal error convergence for viscous‐dominated and convection‐dominated flow problems independent of the interface position. Challenging two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional numerical examples highlight the robustness of our approach in all flow regimes: benchmark computations for laminar flow around a cylinder, a turbulent driven cavity flow at Re = 10000 and the flow interacting with a three‐dimensional flexible wall. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical study of flow and thermal behaviour of lid‐driven flows in cavities of small aspect ratios

Numerical study has been performed to investigate the effects of cavity shape on flow and heat transfer characteristics of the lid‐driven cavity flows. Dependence of flow and thermal behaviour on the aspect ratio of the cavities is also evaluated. Three types of the cross‐sectional shape, namely, circular, triangular, and rectangular, and four aspect ratios, 0.133, 0.207, 0.288, and 0.5, are taken into account to construct twelve possible combinations; however, attention is focused on the small‐aspect‐ratio situations. Value of the Reynolds number considered in this study is varied between 100 and 1800. For the cases considered in this study a major clockwise vortex driven by the moving lid prevailing in the cavity is always observed. When the Reynolds number is fixed, the rectangular cavity produces strongest lid‐driven flow, and the triangular cavity weakest. For the cases at small aspect ratio and low Reynolds number, the streamlines appear symmetric fore‐and‐aft with respect to the central line at x/L = 0.5. Data for the local and average Nusselt numbers are also provided. For rectangular cavities, it is observed that case 1/5R produces the highest average Nusselt number at any Reynolds number. Among the twelve possible geometric cases considered herein, the highest and lowest average Nusselt numbers are found with cases 1/6T and 1/2C, respectively. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A low‐dimensional spectral approach for transient axisymmetric free‐surface flow inside thin cavities of arbitrary shape

A low‐dimensional spectral method is used to solve the transient axisymmetric free surface flow inside thin cavities of arbitrary shape. The flow field is obtained on the basis of the lubrication equations, which are expanded in terms of orthonormal functions over the cavity gap. The formulation accounts for nonlinearities stemming from inertia and front location. The work is of close relevance to the filling stage during die casting, and injection molding, or the flow inside annular (extrusion) dies. Both flows under an imposed flow rate, and an imposed pressure at the cavity entrance are examined. The influence of inertia, aspect ratio, gravity, and wall geometry on the evolution of the front, flow rate, and pressure is assessed particularly in the early stage of flow, when a temporal behavior of the ‘boundary‐layer’ type develops. The multiple‐scale method is applied to obtain an approximate solution at small Reynolds number, Re. Comparison with the exact (numerical) solution indicates a wide range of validity for the multiple‐scale approach, including the moderately small Re range. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of duct velocity profile and buoyancy‐induced flow on efficiency of transient hydrodynamic removal of a contaminant from a cavity

This paper describes a preliminary numerical analysis of the effect of duct velocity profile and buoyancy‐induced flow generated by the heat source on hydrodynamic removal of contaminants contained in cavities. The process of fluid renewal in a cavity is modelled via a numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the energy equation for transient flows. The foulant has the same density as the fluid in the duct and the duct velocity profile is considered to be Poiseuille flow and Couette flow, respectively. The results show that the change in Grashof number and duct flow velocity profile causes a dramatic difference in the observed flow patterns and cleaning efficiency. From a cleaning perspective, the results suggest that Couette flow at higher value of Grashof number becomes more effective in further purging of contaminated fluid from a cavity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of time‐dependent hydrodynamic removal of a contaminated fluid from a cavity

The time‐dependent hydrodynamic removal of a contaminated fluid from a rectangular cavity on the floor of a duct is analysed numerically. Laminar duct flows are considered for Reynolds numbers of 50 and 1600 where the characteristic length is the duct height. Two cases are considered where: (1) the fluid density in the cavity is the same as that for the duct fluid and (2) the cavity fluid has a higher density than the duct fluid but the two fluids are miscible. The flow is solved by a numerical solution of the time‐dependent Navier–Stokes equations. Attention is focused on the convective transport of contaminated fluid out from the cavity and the effect of duct flow velocity profile on the cleaning process. Passive markers are used in the numerical simulation for the purpose of identifying the contaminated cavity fluid. The results show that the flow patterns in the cavity are influenced by the type of duct flow. From a cleaning perspective, the results suggest that it is easier for the duct flow to penetrate a cavity and to remove contaminated cavity fluid when the duct flow is of the Poiseuille type and the aspect ratio is large. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional transient free‐surface flow of viscous fluids inside cavities of arbitrary shape

The three‐dimensional transient free‐surface flow inside cavities of arbitrary shape is examined in this study. An adaptive (Lagrangian) boundary‐element approach is proposed for the general three‐dimensional simulation of confined free‐surface flow of viscous incompressible fluids. The method is stable as it includes remeshing capabilities of the deforming free‐surface, and thus can handle large deformations. A simple algorithm is developed for mesh refinement of the deforming free‐surface mesh. Smooth transition between large and small elements is achieved without significant degradation of the aspect ratio of the elements in the mesh. The method is used to determine the flow field and free‐surface evolution inside cubic, rectangular and cylindrical containers. These problems illustrate the transient nature of the flow during the mixing process. Surface tension effects are also explored. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Computations of flow over a flexible plate using the hybrid Cartesian/immersed boundary method

A hybrid Cartesian/immersed boundary code is developed and applied to interactions between a flexible plate and a surrounding fluid. The velocities at the immersed boundary (IB) nodes are reconstructed by interpolations along local normal lines to an interface. A new criterion is suggested to distribute the IB nodes near an interface. The suggested criterion guarantees a closed fluid domain by a set of the IB nodes and it is applicable to a zero‐thickness body. To eliminate the pressure interpolation at the IB nodes, the hybrid staggered/non‐staggered grid method is adapted. The developed code is validated by comparisons with other experimental and computational results of flow around an in‐line oscillating cylinder. Good agreements are achieved for velocity profiles and vorticity and pressure contours. As applications to the fluid–structure interaction, oscillations of flexible plate in a resting fluid and flow over a flexible plate are simulated. The elastic deformations of the flexible plate are modelled based on the equations of motion for plates considering the fluid pressure as the external load on the plate. Two non‐dimensional parameters are identified and their effects on the damping of the plate motion are examined. Grid convergence tests are carried out for both cases. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A boundary element analysis of multiply connected three‐dimensional cavity mixing flow of polymer solutions

The emergence of non‐linear dynamics in cavity mixing is examined using the boundary element method (BEM). The method is implemented for the simulation of three‐dimensional transient creeping flow of Newtonian or linear viscoelastic fluids of the Jeffreys type. A boundary only formulation in the time domain is proposed for viscoelastic flow. Special emphasis is placed on cavity flow involving multiply connected moving domains. The BEM becomes particularly suited for this case, when part of the boundary (stirrer or rotor) is moving, and the remaining outer part (cavity) is at rest. In contrast to conventional volume methods, the BEM is shown to be much easier to implement since the kinematics of the elements bounding the fluid is known (imposed). It is found that, for a simple cavity flow induced by a rotating vane at constant angular velocity, the tractions at the vane tip and cavity face exhibit non‐linear periodic dynamical behaviour with time for fluids obeying linear constitutive equations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermo‐hydrodynamic‐mechanical multiphase flow model for CO2 sequestration in fracturing porous media

In this paper, we introduce a fully coupled thermo‐hydrodynamic‐mechanical computational model for multiphase flow in a deformable porous solid, exhibiting crack propagation due to fluid dynamics, with focus on CO₂ geosequestration. The geometry is described by a matrix domain, a fracture domain, and a matrix‐fracture domain. The fluid flow in the matrix domain is governed by Darcy's law and that in the crack is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations. At the matrix‐fracture domain, the fluid flow is governed by a leakage term derived from Darcy's law. Upon crack propagation, the conservation of mass and energy of the crack fluid is constrained by the isentropic process. We utilize the representative elementary volume‐averaging theory to formulate the mathematical model of the porous matrix, and the drift flux model to formulate the fluid dynamics in the fracture. The numerical solution is conducted using a mixed finite element discretization scheme. The standard Galerkin finite element method is utilized to discretize the diffusive dominant field equations, and the extended finite element method is utilized to discretize the crack propagation, and the fluid leakage at the boundaries between layers of different physical properties. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the computational capability of the model. It shows that the model, despite the relatively large number of degrees of freedom of different physical nature per node, is computationally efficient, and geometry and effectively mesh independent. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The variation of heat transfer in a two‐sided lid‐driven differentially heated square cavity with nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes for physical properties of fluid dependent on temperature

The behavior of nanofluids containing cylindrical nanoparticles are investigated numerically inside a two‐sided lid‐driven differentially heated square cavity to gain insight into the convective recirculation and flow processes induced by a nanofluid. The physical properties of the base fluid such as viscosity, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient are, respectively, assumed to be temperature independent (taking the mean temperature of the left and right walls) and temperature dependent. A model is developed to analyze the behavior of nanofluids taking into account the nanoparticle volume fraction whereas the transport equations are solved numerically with finite volume approach using SIMPLEC algorithm. The left and right moving walls are maintained at different constant temperatures while the upper and bottom walls are thermally insulated. The directions of the moving walls were considered in a way that the force and natural convections aid each other. The governing parameter Richardson number was 0.1<Ri<50.0 but due to space constraints only the results for 0.1<Ri<10.0 from fluid flow are presented. It was found that the temperature dependency of physical properties at different Richardson numbers and nanoparticle volume fractions affects the fluid flow and heat transfer in the cavities. Finally, comparisons between the behaviors of the average Nusselt number at the left wall for two cases are presented. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GENSMAC3D: a numerical method for solving unsteady three‐dimensional free surface flows

A numerical method for solving three‐dimensional free surface flows is presented. The technique is an extension of the GENSMAC code for calculating free surface flows in two dimensions. As in GENSMAC, the full Navier–Stokes equations are solved by a finite difference method; the fluid surface is represented by a piecewise linear surface composed of quadrilaterals and triangles containing marker particles on their vertices; the stress conditions on the free surface are accurately imposed; the conjugate gradient method is employed for solving the discrete Poisson equation arising from a velocity update; and an automatic time step routine is used for calculating the time step at every cycle. A program implementing these features has been interfaced with a solid modelling routine defining the flow domain. A user‐friendly input data file is employed to allow almost any arbitrary three‐dimensional shape to be described. The visualization of the results is performed using computer graphic structures such as phong shade, flat and parallel surfaces. Results demonstrating the applicability of this new technique for solving complex free surface flows, such as cavity filling and jet buckling, are presented. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann simulations of incompressible flows with freely moving objects

For simulating freely moving problems, conventional immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann methods encounter two major difficulties of an extremely large flow domain and the incompressible limit. To remove these two difficulties, this work proposes an immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann flux solver (IB‐LBFS) in the arbitrary Lagragian–Eulerian (ALE) coordinates and establishes a dynamic similarity theory. In the ALE‐based IB‐LBFS, the flow filed is obtained by using the LBFS on a moving Cartesian mesh, and the no‐slip boundary condition is implemented by using the boundary condition‐enforced immersed boundary method. The velocity of the Cartesian mesh is set the same as the translational velocity of the freely moving object so that there is no relative motion between the plate center and the mesh. This enables the ALE‐based IB‐LBFS to study flows with a freely moving object in a large open flow domain. By normalizing the governing equations for the flow domain and the motion of rigid body, six non‐dimensional parameters are derived and maintained to be the same in both physical systems and the lattice Boltzmann framework. This similarity algorithm enables the lattice Boltzmann equation‐based solver to study a general freely moving problem within the incompressible limit. The proposed solver and dynamic similarity theory have been successfully validated by simulating the flow around an in‐line oscillating cylinder, single particle sedimentation, and flows with a freely falling plate. The obtained results agree well with both numerical and experimental data. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite Difference Method for the Acoustic Radiation of an Elastic Plate Excited by a Turbulent Boundary Layer: A Spectral Domain Solution

A finite difference method is developed to study, on a two-dimensional model, the acoustic pressure radiated when a thin elastic plate, clamped at its boundaries, is excited by a turbulent boundary layer. Consider a homogeneous thin elastic plate clamped at its boundaries and extended to infinity by a plane, perfectly rigid, baffle. This plate closes a rectangular cavity. Both the cavity and the outside domain contain a perfect fluid. The fluid in the cavity is at rest. The fluid in the outside domain moves in the direction parallel to the system plate/baffle with a constant speed. A turbulent boundary layer develops at the interface baffle/plate. The wall pressure fluctuations in this boundary layer generates a vibration of the plate and an acoustic radiation in the two fluid domains. Modeling the wall pressure fluctuations spectrum in a turbulent boundary layer developed over a vibrating surface is a very complex and unresolved task. Ducan and Sirkis [1] proposed a model for the two-way interactions between a membrane and a turbulent flow of fluid. The excitation of the membrane is modeled by a potential flow randomly perturbed. This potential flow is modified by the displacement of the membrane. Howe [2] proposed a model for the turbulent wall pressure fluctuations power spectrum over an elastomeric material. The model presented in this article is based on a hypothesis of one-way interaction between the flow and the structure: the flow generates wall pressure fluctuations which are at the origin of the vibration of the plate, but the vibration of the plate does not modify the characteristics of the flow. A finite difference scheme that incorporates the vibration of the plate and the acoustic pressure inside the fluid cavity has been developed and coupled with a boundary element method that ensures the outside domain coupling. In this paper, we focus on the resolution of the coupled vibration/interior acoustic problem. We compare the results obtained with three numerical methods: (a) a finite difference representation for both the plate displacement and the acoustic pressure inside the cavity; (b) a coupled method involving a finite difference representation for the displacement of the plate and a boundary element method for the interior acoustic pressure; (c) a boundary element method for both the vibration of the plate and the interior acoustic pressure. A comparison of the numerical results obtained with two models of turbulent wall pressure fluctuations spectrums - the Corcos model [3] and the Chase model [4] - is proposed. A difference of 20 dB is found in the vibro-acoustic response of the structure. In [3], this difference is explained by calculating a wavenumber transfer function of the plate. In [6], coupled beam-cavity modes for similar geometry are calculated by the finite difference method. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Global flow instability in a lid‐driven cavity

The stability of flow in a lid‐driven cavity is investigated using an accurate numerical technique based on a hybrid scheme with spectral collocation and high‐order finite differences. A global stability analysis is carried out and critical parameters are identified for various aspect ratios. It is found that while there is reasonable agreement with the literature for the critical parameters leading to loss of stability for the square cavity, there are significant discrepancies for cavities of aspect ratios 1.5 and 2. Simulations of the linearized unsteady equations confirm the results from the global stability analysis for aspect ratios A = 1, 1.5 and A = 2. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cahn–Hilliard modeling of particles suspended in two‐phase flows

In this paper, we present a model for the dynamics of particles suspended in two‐phase flows by coupling the Cahn–Hilliard theory with the extended finite element method (XFEM). In the Cahn–Hilliard model the interface is considered to have a small but finite thickness, which circumvents explicit tracking of the interface. For the direct numerical simulation of particle‐suspended flows, we incorporate an XFEM, in which the particle domain is decoupled from the fluid domain. To cope with the movement of the particles, a temporary ALE scheme is used for the mapping of field variables at the previous time levels onto the computational mesh at the current time level. By combining the Cahn–Hilliard model with the XFEM, the particle motion at an interface can be simulated on a fixed Eulerian mesh without any need of re‐meshing. The model is general, but to demonstrate and validate the technique, here the dynamics of a single particle at a fluid–fluid interface is studied. First, we apply a small disturbance on a particle resting at an interface between two fluids, and investigate the particle movement towards its equilibrium position. In particular, we are interested in the effect of interfacial thickness, surface tension, particle size and viscosity ratio of two fluids on the particle movement towards its equilibrium position. Finally, we show the movement of a particle passing through multiple layers of fluids. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a generalized multi‐layer model for 3‐D simulation of free surface flows

A mathematical model was developed for three‐dimensional (3‐D) simulation of free surface flows. In this model, the flow depth is divided into a number of layers and shallow water equations are integrated in each layer to derive the hydrodynamic equations. To give a general form to this model, each layer is assumed to be non‐horizontal with varying thickness in the flow domain. A non‐orthogonal curvilinear coordinate system is employed in the model, to allow for flexibility in dealing with the irregular geometry of natural watercourses. Due to the similarity in governing equations, two‐dimensional (2‐D) depth averaged programs can be developed into a multi‐layer model. The development for a depth averaged program and its numerical scheme is described in this paper. Experimental data and semi‐analytical solutions are used to evaluate the performance of the model. Three different cases of open channel flow are tested: 1‐flow in a straight open channel, 2‐the flow development region in a channel, and 3‐flow in a meandering channel. It is shown that the model has the capability to predict velocity distribution and secondary flows in complex 3‐D flow conditions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental measurement of flow past cavities of different shapes

Experiments are carried out in order to investigate the flow structure past a rectangular, triangular and semi-circular cavity of length-to-depth ratio of 2:1 using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. The experiments are performed in a large scale water channel with three different upstream velocities resulting in Reynolds numbers of 1230, 1460 and 1700, based on inflow momentum thickness, for each cavity type. Contours of constant averaged streamwise and transverse components of velocity, contours of constant averaged vorticity, Reynolds stress and streamline plots for each cavity type for the aforementioned three Reynolds numbers are presented. In addition, streamwise velocity, Reynolds stress and turbulence intensity values are compared for all cavity types. Effect of cavity shape on flow structure within the cavity is discussed in detail. Moreover, spectrum of instantaneous streamwise velocity fluctuations in shear layer near the downstream of the leading corner and the upstream of the trailing corner of the cavities are obtained and it was found that no organized oscillations are present in the flow; rectangular and triangular cavities have the largest amplitudes while semi-circular cavity has the smallest. Calculated turbulence intensities also reveal that the maximum turbulence intensities occur at cavity lid in the centerline section and rectangular and triangular cavities have larger turbulence intensity compared to semi-circular cavity.