Simulation of free surface flows by a finite element interface capturing technique

Abstract

Transient free surface flows are numerically simulated by a finite element interface capturing method based on a level set approach. The methodology consists of the solution of two-fluid viscous incompressible flows for a single domain, where the liquid phase is identified by positive values of the level set function, the gaseous one by negative ones, and the free surface by the zero level set. The numerical solution at each time step is performed in three stages: (i) a two-fluid Navier--Stokes stage, (ii) an advection stage for the transport of the level set function, and (iii) a bounded reinitialization with continuous penalization stage for keeping smoothness of the level set function. The proposed procedure, and particularly the renormalization stage, are evaluated in two typical two and three-dimensional problems. [Submitted to Int. J Comp Fluid Dynamics, ISSN 1061-8562]