Title: Direct numerical simulation of dynamic three-fluid flow

Authors: Zhi Lin Yang, Wei Min Ma

Addresses: Process Technology, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Trondheim 7465, Norway. ' Department of Physics, Nuclear Power Safety Division, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden

Abstract: Three-fluid flow is characterised by three different interfaces between fluids, which are among the most important issues in a three-fluid flow. The objective of this paper is to track the dynamic interfaces between fluids implicitly and then to computerise the flow hydrodynamics. We use the level-set method for the interface tracking and a high-order Navier-Stokes solver, called Cubic-Interpolated Pseudo-Particle (CIP) algorithm to solve the equation system. Firstly, a two-fluid situation is simulated to demonstrate the capability of the level-set method. Then, as an example, we simulate a drop which is covered by a layer of gas/vapour and is moving in a water pool. The dynamic processes, such as deformation of vapour layer and its detachment from the drop, are simulated.

Keywords: three-fluid flow; level-set method; droplets; direct numerical simulation; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; fluid interfaces; flow hydrodynamics; deformation; three-phase flow.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2007.013010

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2007 Vol.7 No.2/3/4, pp.176 - 182

Published online: 03 Apr 2007 *

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