Book Description

This thesis aims at developing numerical methods based on level-set techniques suitable for the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of free surface and interfacial flows, in order to be used on basic research and industrial applications. First, the conservative level-set method for capturing the interface between two fluids is combined with a variable density projection scheme in order to simulate incompressible two-phase flows on unstructured meshes. All equations are discretized by using a finite-volume approximation on a collocated grid arrangement. A high order scheme based on a flux limiter formulation, is adopted for approximating the convective terms, while the diffusive fluxes are centrally differenced. Gradients are computed by the least-squares approach, whereas physical properties are assumed to vary smoothly in a narrow band around the interface to avoid numerical instabilities. Surface tension force is calculated according to the continuous surface force approach. The numerical method is validated against experimental and numerical data reported in the scientific literature. Second, the conservative level-set method is applied to study the gravity-driven bubbly flow. Unlike the cases presented in the first part, a periodic boundary condition is applied in the vertical direction, in order to mimic a channel of infinite length. The shape and terminal velocity of a single bubble which rises in a quiescent liquid are calculated and validated against experimental results reported in the literature. In addition, different initial arrangements of bubble pairs were considered to study its hydrodynamic interaction, and, finally the interaction of multiple bubbles is explored in a periodic vertical duct, allowing their coalescence. In the third part of this thesis, a new methodology is presented for simulation of surface-tension-driven interfacial flows by combining volume-of-fluid with level-set methods. The main idea is to benefit from the advantage of each strategy, which is to minimize mass loss through the volume-of-fluid method, and to keep a fine description of the interface curvature using a level-set function. With the information of the interface given by the volume-of-fluid method, a signed distance function is reconstructed following an iterative geometric algorithm, which is used to compute surface tension force. This numerical method is validated on 2D and 3D test cases well known in the scientific literature. The simulations reveal that numerical schemes afford qualitatively similar results to those obtained by the conservative level-set method. Mass conservation is shown to be excellent, while geometrical accuracy remains satisfactory even for the most complex cases involving topology changes. In the fourth part of the thesis a novel multiple marker level-set method is presented. This method is deployed to perform numerical simulation of deformable fluid particles without numerical coalescence of their interfaces, which is a problem inherent to standard interface tracking methodologies (e.g. level-set and volume of fluid). Each fluid particle is described by a separate level-set function, thus, different interfaces can be solved in the same control volume, avoiding artificial and potentially unphysical coalescence of fluid particles. Therefore, bubbles or droplets are able to approach each other closely, within the size of one grid cell, and can even collide. The proposed algorithm is developed in the context of the conservative levelset method, whereas, surface tension is modeled by the continuous surface force approach. The pressure-velocity coupling is solved by the fractional-step projection method. For validation of the proposed numerical method, the gravity-driven impact of a droplet on a liquid-liquid interface is studied; then, the binary droplet collision with bouncing outcome is examined, and finally, it is applied on simulation of gravity-driven bubbly flow in a vertical column. The study of these cases contributed to shed some light into physics present in bubble and droplet flows.