A control volume finite element method for three-dimensional three-phase flows |
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Authors: | Zhihua Xie Dimitrios Pavlidis Pablo Salinas Christopher C. Pain Omar K. Matar |
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Affiliation: | 1. Hydro-environmental Research Centre, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK;2. Applied Modelling and Computation Group, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK;3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK |
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Abstract: | A novel control volume finite element method with adaptive anisotropic unstructured meshes is presented for three-dimensional three-phase flows with interfacial tension. The numerical framework consists of a mixed control volume and finite element formulation with a new P1DG-P2 elements (linear discontinuous velocity between elements and quadratic continuous pressure between elements). A “volume of fluid” type method is used for the interface capturing, which is based on compressive control volume advection and second-order finite element methods. A force-balanced continuum surface force model is employed for the interfacial tension on unstructured meshes. The interfacial tension coefficient decomposition method is also used to deal with interfacial tension pairings between different phases. Numerical examples of benchmark tests and the dynamics of three-dimensional three-phase rising bubble, and droplet impact are presented. The results are compared with the analytical solutions and previously published experimental data, demonstrating the capability of the present method. |
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Keywords: | adaptive unstructured mesh control volume finite element method discontinuous Galerkin interfacial tension Navier-Stokes model three-phase flows |
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