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

✍ Scribed by Anton Smolianski

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 845 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-2091
• DOI: 10.1002/fld.823

✦ Synopsis

The present work is devoted to the study on unsteady ows of two immiscible viscous uids separated by free moving interface. Our goal is to elaborate a uniÿed strategy for numerical modelling of twouid interfacial ows, 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 ÿnite element method for spatial approximation, the operator-splitting for temporal discretization and the level-set method for interface representation. We show that the ÿnite element implementation of the level-set approach brings some additional beneÿts as compared to the standard, ÿnite di erence level-set realizations. In particular, the use of ÿnite elements permits to localize the interface precisely, without introducing any artiÿcial 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 di culties 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 ow and Rayleigh-Taylor instability are presented to validate the computational method.