Simulation of micro-flow dynamics at low capillary numbers using adaptive interface compression

A numerical framework for modelling micro-scale multiphase flows with sharp interfaces has been developed. The suggested methodology is targeting the efficient and yet rigorous simulation of complex interface motion at capillary dominated flows (low capillary number). Such flows are encountered in various configurations ranging from micro-devices to naturally occurring porous media. The methodology uses as a basis the Volume-of-Fluid (VoF) method combined with additional sharpening smoothing and filtering algorithms for the interface capturing. These algorithms help the minimisation of the parasitic currents present in flow simulations, when viscous forces and surface tension dominate inertial forces, like in porous media. The framework is implemented within a finite volume code (OpenFOAM) using a limited Multidimensional Universal Limiter with Explicit Solution (MULES) implicit formulation, which allows larger time steps at low capillary numbers to be utilised. In addition, an adaptive interface compression scheme is introduced for the first time in order to allow for a dynamic estimation of the compressive velocity only at the areas of interest and thus has the advantage of avoiding the use of a-priori defined parameters. The adaptive method is found to increase the numerical accuracy and to reduce the sensitivity of the methodology to tuning parameters. The accuracy and stability of the proposed model is verified against five different benchmark test cases. Moreover, numerical results are compared against analytical solutions as well as available experimental data, which reveal improved solutions relative to the standard VoF solver

Inverse asymptotic treatment: capturing discontinuities in fluid flows via equation modification

A major challenge in developing accurate and robust numerical solutions to multi-physics problems is to correctly model evolving discontinuities in field quantities, which manifest themselves as interfaces between different phases in multi-phase flows, or as shock and contact discontinuities in compressible flows. When a quick response is required to rapidly emerging challenges, the complexity of bespoke discretization schemes impedes a swift transition from problem formulation to computation, which is exacerbated by the need to compose multiple interacting physics. We introduce "inverse asymptotic treatment" (IAT) as a unified framework for capturing discontinuities in fluid flows that enables building directly computable models based on off-the-shelf numerics. By capturing discontinuities through modifications at the level of the governing equations, IAT can seamlessly handle additional physics and thus enable novice end users to quickly obtain numerical results for various multi-physics scenarios. We outline IAT in the context of phase-field modeling of two-phase incompressible flows, and then demonstrate its generality by showing how localized artificial diffusivity (LAD) methods for single-phase compressible flows can be viewed as instances of IAT. Through the real-world example of a laminar hypersonic compression corner, we illustrate IAT's ability to, within just a few months, generate a directly computable model whose wall metrics predictions for sufficiently small corner angles come close to that of NASA's VULKAN-CFD solver. Finally, we propose a novel LAD approach via "reverse-engineered" PDE modifications, inspired by total variation diminishing (TVD) flux limiters, to eliminate the problem-dependent parameter tuning that plagues traditional LAD. We demonstrate that, when combined with second-order central differencing, it can robustly and accurately model compressible flows

A priori filtering and LES modeling of turbulent two-phase flows application to phase separation

International audienceThe Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of two-phase flows with resolved scale interfaces is investigated through the a priori filtering of Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of one-fluid and multifield models. A phase inversion benchmark [ 1 –4] is considered highlighting many coalescence and interface rupture events in a kind of atomization process. The order of magnitude of specific two-phase subgrid LES terms is first considered with the two modeling approaches. Then, different existing models such as Smagorinsky [5], Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE) model [6], Bardina [7], Mixed [8] and Approximate Deconvo-lution Model (ADM) [9] are used to account for two-phase subgrid effects. These models are compared to filtered DNS results. The main conclusion concerning a priori LES filtering is that the inertia term is not predominant in two-phase flows with fragmentation and rupture of interface. This conclusion is different from that of the studies of [3, 10–13]. Concerning LES models, functional modeling do not correlate to filtered DNS results whereas structural approaches do. Bardina and ADM are clearly the good LES framework to consider for two-phase flows with resolved scale interfaces. ADM is clearly better than Bardina in our study

Numerical Study of 2D and 3D Separation Phenomena in the Dam-Break Flow Interacting with a Triangular Obstacle

Dam-break turbulent flow interacting with obstacles is simulated with the VOF method implemented in an in-house unstructured-grid finite-volume Navier-Stokes code. A special attention is paid to prediction of separation phenomena using low-Re computational grids that provide full resolution of viscous sublayers on the bottom and side confining walls, if any. Some original developments aimed at improvement of the VOF method robustness for such kind of flows are presented. The test case considered is interaction of the dam-break induced water stream with a triangular obstacle. Computations under conditions of experiments by Soares-Frazao (2007) have been carried out on the base of 2D and 3D formulations. It is shown that action of the bottom wall friction leads to formation of one or two separation “bubbles”, depending on the flow development phase, and to occurrence of associated hills at the free surface, which are observed in experimental photos as well. Taking into account presence of side walls of the experimental channel results in solutions with a considerably 3D shape of the computed free surface, and its side view much better agrees with the experimental photos than that given by 2D solutions. Moreover, local-in-time separation of the flow from the side walls is predicted with the 3D formulation

Evaluation of two-phase flow solvers using Level Set and Volume of Fluid methods

Two principal methods have been used to simulate the evolution of two-phase immiscible flows of liquid and gas separated by an interface. These are the Level-Set (LS) method and the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method. Both methods attempt to represent the very sharp interface between the phases and to deal with the large jumps in physical properties associated with it. Both methods have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, the VoF method is known to be prone to excessive numerical diffusion, while the basic LS method has some difficulty in conserving mass. Major progress has been made in remedying these deficiencies, and both methods have now reached a high level of physical accuracy. Nevertheless, there remains an issue, in that each of these methods has been developed by different research groups, using different codes and most importantly the implementations have been fine tuned to tackle different applications. Thus, it remains unclear what are the remaining advantages and drawbacks of each method relative to the other, and what might be the optimal way to unify them. In this paper, we address this gap by performing a direct comparison of two current state-of-the-art variations of these methods (LS: RCLSFoam and VoF: interPore) and implemented in the same code (OpenFoam). We subject both methods to a pair of benchmark test cases while using the same numerical meshes to examine a) the accuracy of curvature representation, b) the effect of tuning parameters, c) the ability to minimise spurious velocities and d) the ability to tackle fluids with very different densities. For each method, one of the test cases is chosen to be fairly benign while the other test case is expected to present a greater challenge. The results indicate that both methods can be made to work well on both test cases, while displaying different sensitivity to the relevant parameters