A front-tracking/front-capturing method for the simulation of 3D multi-fluid flows with free surfaces

A method for simulating incompressible, imiscible, unsteady, Newtonian, multi-fluid flows with free surfaces is described. A sharp interface separates fluids of different density and viscosity. Surface and interfacial tensions are also considered and the required curvature is geometrically approxima...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of computational physics 2004-08, Vol.198 (2), p.469-499
Main Authors: de Sousa, F.S., Mangiavacchi, N., Nonato, L.G., Castelo, A., Tomé, M.F., Ferreira, V.G., Cuminato, J.A., McKee, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computational techniques
Exact sciences and technology
Finite-difference method
Free surface flows
Front-tracking method
Mathematical methods in physics
Multi-fluid flows
Numerical simulation
Physics
Surface tension
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Summary:A method for simulating incompressible, imiscible, unsteady, Newtonian, multi-fluid flows with free surfaces is described. A sharp interface separates fluids of different density and viscosity. Surface and interfacial tensions are also considered and the required curvature is geometrically approximated at the fronts by a least squares quadratic fitting. To remove small undulations at the fronts, a mass-conserving filter is employed. The numerical method employed to solve the Navier–Stokes equations is based on the GENSMAC-3D front-tracking method. The velocity field is computed using a finite-difference scheme on an Eulerian grid. The free-surface and the interfaces are represented by an unstructured Lagrangian grid moving through an Eulerian grid. The method was validated by comparing the numerical results with analytical results for a number of simple problems. Complex numerical simulations show the capability and emphasize the robustness of this new method.
ISSN:0021-9991
1090-2716
DOI:10.1016/j.jcp.2004.01.032