An unstructured Finite-Volume Level Set / Front Tracking method for capillary flows

In this thesis the unstructured Finite-Volume hybrid Level Set / Front Tracking method (LENT) for immiscible two-phase flows is extended to enable the simulation of capillary flows. The major contributions are a more accurate interface curvature approximation, an accuracy driven pressure velocity coupling algorithm, an approximation technique for consistent mass fluxes for momentum convection and two novel approaches for the computation of volume fractions from triangulated surfaces. All proposed techniques and algorithms are devised for unstructured Finite-Volume meshes. The improved curvature approximation uses a signed distance field as input and utilizes surface-mesh/volume-mesh mappings to reduce curvature variation in interface normal direction. A novel, local correction approach is introduced to further reduce the curvature error in cells intersected by the interface. To ensure a prescribed solution accuracy, an iterative, accuracy driven pressure velocity coupling algorithm is presented that builds on the established segregated solution algorithms. The necessity of consistent mass fluxes for momentum convection in the presence of differing fluid densities is analyzed. For interface advection methods that do not utilize phase-specific volumetric fluxes, a method to obtain approximate, consistent mass fluxes is proposed. The resulting improvements for capillary flows are demonstrated using canonical verification and validation test cases. Two novel algorithms to compute volume fractions on unstructured volume meshes from oriented triangle surfaces meshes are introduced, one based on geometric intersections and one based on approximation and adaptive refinement. Intended for the phase indicator calculation in the context of Level Set / Front Tracking methods, both algorithms are shown to be sufficiently accurate to initialize volume fractions also for the Volume-of-Fluid method. In fact, test cases demonstrate that both approaches’ accuracy is only limited by the resolution of the surface mesh

Modelling the Interfacial Flow of Two Immiscible Liquids in Mixing Processes

This paper presents an interface tracking method for modelling the flow of immiscible metallic liquids in mixing processes. The methodology can provide an insight into mixing processes for studying the fundamental morphology development mechanisms for immiscible interfaces. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) method is adopted in the present study, following a review of various modelling approaches for immiscible fluid systems. The VOF method employed here utilises the piecewise linear for interface construction scheme as well as the continuum surface force algorithm for surface force modelling. A model coupling numerical and experimental data is established. The main flow features in the mixing process are investigated. It is observed that the mixing of immiscible metallic liquids is strongly influenced by the viscosity of the system, shear forces and turbulence. The numerical results show good qualitative agreement with experimental results, and are useful for optimisating the design of mixing casting processes

An immersed computational framework for multiphase fluid-structure interaction.

"The objective of this thesis is to further extend the application range of immersed computational approaches in the context of hydrodynamics and present a novel general framework for the simulation of fluid-structure interaction problems involving rigid bodies, flexible solids and multiphase flows. The proposed method aims to overcome shortcomings such as the restriction of having to deal with similar density ratios among different phases or the restriction to solve single-phase flows. The new framework will be capable of coping with large density ratios, multiphase flows and will be focussed on hydrodynamic problems. The two main challenges to be addressed are: - the representation, evolution and compatibility of the multiple fluid-solid interface - the proposition of unified framework containing multiphase flows, flexible structures and rigid bodies with possibly large density ratios First, a new variation of the original IBM is presented by rearranging the governing equations which define the behaviour of the multiple physics involved. The formulation is compatibile with the "one-fluid" equation for two phase flows and can deal with large density ratios with the help of an anisotropic Poisson solver. Second, deformable structures and fluid are modelled in a identical manner except for the deviatoric part of the Cauchy stress tensor. The challenging part is the calculation of the deviatoric part the Cauchy stress in the structure, which is expressed as a function of the deformation gradient tensor. The technique followed In this thesis is that original ISP, but re-expressed in terms of the Cauchy stress tensor. Any immersed rigid body is considered as an incompressible non-viscous continuum body with an equivalent internal force field which constrains the velocity field to satisfy the rigid body motion condition. The "rigid body" spatial velocity is evaluated by means of a linear least squares projection of the background fluid velocity, whilst the immersed force field emerges as a result of the linear momentum conversation equation. This formulation is convenient for arbitrary rigid shapes around a fixed point and the most general translation- rotation. A characteristic or indicator function, defined for each interacting continuum phase, evolves passively with the velocity field. Generally, there are two families of algorithms for the description of the interfaces, namely, Eulerian grid based methods (interface tracking). In this thesis, the interface capturing Level Set method is used to capture the fluid-fluid interface, due to its advantages to deal with possible topological changes. In addiction, an interface tracking Lagrangian based meshless technique is used for the fluid-structure interface due to its benefits at the ensuring mass preservation. From the fluid discretisation point of view, the discretisation is based on the standard Marker-and-Cell method in conjunction with a fractional step approach for the pressure/velocity decoupling. The thesis presents a wide range of applications for multiphase flows interacting with a variety of structures (i.e. rigid and deformable) Several numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the robustness and applicability of the new methodology. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

CFD modeling of all gas-liquid and vapor-liquid flow regimes predicted by the Baker chart

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Numerical simulation of single droplet dynamics in three-phase flows using ISPH

In this study, a new surface tension formulation for modeling incompressible, immiscible three-phase fluid flows in the context of incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ISPH) in two dimensions has been proposed. A continuum surface force model is employed to transform local surface tension force to a volumetric force while physical surface tension coefficients are expressed as the sum of phase specific surface tension coefficients, facilitating the implementation of the proposed method at triple junctions where all three phases are present. Smoothed color functions at fluid interfaces along with artificial particle displacement throughout the computational domain are combined to increase accuracy and robustness of the model. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, several numerical simulations have been carried out and results are compared to analytical data available in literature. Results obtained by simulations are compatible with analytical data, demonstrating that the ISPH scheme proposed here is capable of handling three-phase flows accurately

Architecture of a network-in-the-Loop environment for characterizing AC power system behavior

This paper describes the method by which a large hardware-in-the-loop environment has been realized for three-phase ac power systems. The environment allows an entire laboratory power-network topology (generators, loads, controls, protection devices, and switches) to be placed in the loop of a large power-network simulation. The system is realized by using a realtime power-network simulator, which interacts with the hardware via the indirect control of a large synchronous generator and by measuring currents flowing from its terminals. These measured currents are injected into the simulation via current sources to close the loop. This paper describes the system architecture and, most importantly, the calibration methodologies which have been developed to overcome measurement and loop latencies. In particular, a new "phase advance" calibration removes the requirement to add unwanted components into the simulated network to compensate for loop delay. The results of early commissioning experiments are demonstrated. The present system performance limits under transient conditions (approximately 0.25 Hz/s and 30 V/s to contain peak phase-and voltage-tracking errors within 5. and 1%) are defined mainly by the controllability of the synchronous generator