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Flux-based level-set method for two-phase flows on unstructured grids

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Computing and Visualization in Science

Abstract

In this paper we deal with the application of the flux-based level set method to moving interface computations on unstructured grids. The focus lies on the overcoming of the known difficulties of level set methods, e.g. accurate computations of important geometric properties, reliable and precise reinitialization of the level set function and the adaption of standard discretization methods to the moving boundary case. The basic building block of our approach is the high-resolution flux-based level set method for general advection equation (Frolkovič and Mikula in SIAM J Sci Comput 29(2):579–597, 2007, Frolkovič and Wehner in Comput Vis Sci 12(6):626–650, 2009). We extend this method for the problem of reinitialization of the level set function on unstructured grids by using quadratic interpolation to compute distances for nodes close to the interface. To realize numerical simulation for some applications with moving boundaries, we adapt the approach of ghost fluid method (Gibou and Fedkiw in J Comput Phys 202:577–601, 2005) for unstructured grids. The idea is to describe the development of the moving boundary with a level set formulation while the computational grid remains fixed and the boundary conditions are enforced using some extrapolation. Our main motivation is the numerical solution of two-phase incompressible flow problems. Additionally to previously mentioned steps, we introduce further numerical schemes in the framework of finite volume discretization for the flow. Possible jumps of the pressure and the directional derivative of velocity at the interface are modeled directly within the method using the approach of extended approximation spaces. Besides that, an algorithm for the computations of curvature is considered that exhibits the second order accuracy for some examples. Numerical experiments are provided for the presented methods.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinskeho 11, 81005, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Peter Frolkovič

  2. Goethe-Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Kettenhofweg 139, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Dmitriy Logashenko & Christian Wehner

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  1. Peter Frolkovič
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  2. Dmitriy Logashenko
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  3. Christian Wehner
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Correspondence to Dmitriy Logashenko.

Additional information

Communicated by Gabriel Wittum.

This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the projects FKZ 02E10326 and 03SF0346D. The first author was supported by the Grant VEGA 1/0728/15.

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Frolkovič, P., Logashenko, D. & Wehner, C. Flux-based level-set method for two-phase flows on unstructured grids. Comput. Visual Sci. 18, 31–52 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00791-016-0269-z

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