A momentum-conserving, consistent, Volume-of-Fluid method for incompressible flow on staggered grids

The computation of flows with large density contrasts is notoriously difficult. To alleviate the difficulty we consider a consistent mass and momentum-conserving discretization of the Navier-Stokes equation. Incompressible flow with capillary forces is modelled and the discretization is performed on a staggered grid of Marker and Cell type. The Volume-of-Fluid method is used to track the interface and a Height-Function method is used to compute surface tension. The advection of the volume fraction is performed using either the Lagrangian-Explicit / CIAM (Calcul d'Interface Affine par Morceaux) method or the Weymouth and Yue (WY) Eulerian-Implicit method. The WY method conserves fluid mass to machine accuracy provided incompressiblity is satisfied which leads to a method that is both momentum and mass-conserving. To improve the stability of these methods momentum fluxes are advected in a manner "consistent" with the volume-fraction fluxes, that is a discontinuity of the momentum is advected at the same speed as a discontinuity of the density. To find the density on the staggered cells on which the velocity is centered, an auxiliary reconstruction of the density is performed. The method is tested for a droplet without surface tension in uniform flow, for a droplet suddenly accelerated in a carrying gas at rest at very large density ratio without viscosity or surface tension, for the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, for a falling raindrop and for an atomizing flow in air-water conditions

PArallel, Robust, Interface Simulator (PARIS)

Paris (PArallel, Robust, Interface Simulator) is a finite volume code for simulations of immiscible multifluid or multiphase flows. It is based on the "one-fluid" formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations where different fluids are treated as one material with variable properties, and surface tension is added as a singular interface force. The fluid equations are solved on a regular structured staggered grid using an explicit projection method with a first-order or second-order time integration scheme. The interface separating the different fluids is tracked by a Front-Tracking (FT) method, where the interface is represented by connected marker points, or by a Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method, where the marker function is advected directly on the fixed grid. Paris is written in Fortran95/2002 and parallelized using MPI and domain decomposition. It is based on several earlier FT or VOF codes such as Ftc3D, Surfer or Gerris. These codes and similar ones, as well as Paris, have been used to simulate a wide range of multifluid and multiphase flows

Autonomic impairment of patients in coma with different Glasgow coma score assessed with heart rate variability

Primary objective: The objective of this study is to assess the functional state of the autonomic nervous system in healthy individuals and in individuals in coma using measures of heart rate variability (HRV) and to evaluate its efficiency in predicting mortality. Design and Methods: Retrospective group comparison study of patients in coma classified into two subgroups, according to their Glasgow coma score, with a healthy control group. HRV indices were calculated from 7 min of artefact-free electrocardiograms using the Hilbert–Huang method in the spectral range 0.02–0.6 Hz. A special procedure was applied to avoid confounding factors. Stepwise multiple regression logistic analysis (SMLRA) and ROC analysis evaluated predictions. Results: Progressive reduction of HRV was confirmed and was associated with deepening of coma and a mortality score model that included three spectral HRV indices of absolute power values of very low, low and very high frequency bands (0.4-0.6 Hz). The SMLRA model showed sensitivity of 95.65%, specificity of 95.83%, positive predictive value of 95.65%, and overall efficiency of 95.74%. Conclusions: HRV is a reliable method to assess the integrity of the neural control of the caudal brainstem centres on the hearts of patients in coma and to predict patient mortality

Realistic simulations of coaxial atomisation

We discuss advances in the methodology for Direct Numerical Simulations of coaxial atomization in typical experimental conditions. Such conditions are extremely demanding for the numerical methods. The key difficulty seems to be the combination of high density ratios, surface tension, and large Reynolds numbers. We explore how using a momentum-conserving Volume-Of-Fluid scheme allows to improve the stability and accuracy of the simulations. We show computational evidence that the use of momentum conserving methods allows to reduce the required number of grid points by an order of magnitude in the simple case of a falling rain drop. We then apply these ideas to coaxial atomization. We show that in moderate-size simulations in air-water conditions close to real experiments, instabilities are still present and then discuss ways to fix them. Among those, removing small VOF debris and improving the time-stepping scheme are two important directions.The accuracy of the simulations is then discussed in comparison with experimental results and in particular the angle of ejection of the structures. The code used for this research is free and distributed at http://parissimulator.sf.net

DNS of coflowing planar jet atomization: can one reach convergence?

Atomization of a liquid jet assisted by a coflowing fast gas jet is commonly seen in fuel injection systems. Three-dimensional direct numerical simulations are performed to investigate the turbulent multiphase flow characteristics in coflowing planar jet atomization, with the interface tracked by the Volume-of-fluid method. Although many numerical simulations of atomization were reported in the recent years, whether the atomization characteristics such as droplet formation and size distribution are fully resolved is often unclear. In this work, a series of very large-scale simulations of different grid resolution (up to four billion grid points) are conducted and particular attention is focused on examining whether we can achieve converged results on the statistical atomization characteristics. The statistical characteristics of the turbulence (such as turbulence kinetic energy) and of the spray (such as droplet size distribution, liquid volume fraction, and gas-liquid interfacial area) are calculated by averaging the DNS data spatially and temporally. The complex multiscale droplet formation mechanisms due to the interaction between the interface and the turbulence are also revealed by the simulation results

Deterioro cognitivo anterior a la enfermedad de Alzheimer: tipologías y evolución

El deterioro cognitivo ligero (DCL) se refiere a un estadio intermedio entre normalidad y demencia, principalmente enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA). Recientemente, se han propuesto tres tipos de DCL (amnésico, difuso y focal no amnésico), cada uno de ellos relacionado con una evolución posterior. Nuestro objetivo es describir la frecuencia de los diferentes tipos de DCL y mostrar cuál es el más relacionado con EA, mediante el análisis del perfil neurocognitivo. Se incluyen 141 pacientes y un grupo control equiparado en edad y sexo, ambos con estudio neuropsicológico. El rendimiento de los pacientes fue significativamente inferior al de controles en todas las funciones exploradas, excepto en orientación espacial. El tipo de DCL más frecuente fue el difuso. Después de dos años de seguimiento, un 15,21% de pacientes evolucionó hacia EA. Éstos presentaron mayor desorientación temporal y alteraciones de memoria episódica respecto los pacientes estables. Todos estos pacientes presentaban un DCL difuso

A mass-momentum consistent, Volume-of-Fluid method for incompressible flow on staggered grids

The computation of flows with large density contrasts is notoriously difficult. To alleviate the difficulty we consider a discretization of the Navier-Stokes equation that advects mass and momentum in a consistent manner. Incompressible flow with capillary forces is modeled and the discretization is performed on a staggered grid of Marker and Cell type. The Volume-of-Fluid method is used to track the interface and a Height-Function method is used to compute surface tension. The advection of the volume fraction is performed using either the Lagrangian-Explicit / CIAM (Calcul d'Interface Affine par Morceaux) method or the Weymouth and Yue (WY) Eulerian-Implicit method. The WY method conserves fluid mass to machine accuracy provided incompressibility is satisfied. To improve the stability of these methods momentum fluxes are advected in a manner “consistent” with the volume-fraction fluxes, that is a discontinuity of the momentum is advected at the same speed as a discontinuity of the density. To find the density on the staggered cells on which the velocity is centered, an auxiliary reconstruction of the density is performed. The method is tested for a droplet without surface tension in uniform flow, for a droplet suddenly accelerated in a carrying gas at rest at very large density ratio without viscosity or surface tension, for the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, for a 3mm-diameter falling raindrop and for an atomizing flow in air-water conditions