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A volume‐of‐fluid method for incompressible free surface flows
Author(s) -
Park I. R.,
Kim K. S.,
Kim J.,
Van S. H.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.2000
Subject(s) - volume of fluid method , advection , compressibility , algorithm , free surface , curvature , convergence (economics) , mechanics , computer science , mathematics , geometry , flow (mathematics) , physics , thermodynamics , economics , economic growth
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.