Residual-based variational multiscale simulation of free surface flows

In this paper we will present an algorithm to perform free surface flow simulations with the lattice Boltzmann method on adaptive grids. This reduces the required computational time by more than a factor of three for simulations with large volumes of fluid. To achieve this, the simulation of large fluid regions is performed with coarser grid resolutions. We have developed a set of rules to dynamically adapt the coarse regions to the movement of the free surface, while ensuring the consistency of all grids. Furthermore, the free surface treatment is combined with a Smagorinsky turbulence model and a technique for adaptive time steps to ensure stable simulations. The method is validated by comparing the position of the free surface with an uncoarsened simulation. It yields speedup factors of up to 3.85 for a simulation with a resolution of 4803 cells and three coarser grid levels, and thus enables efficient and stable simulations of free surface flows, e.g. for highly detailed physically based animations of fluids.

The concept of “feedback” is introduced into potential free surface flow to derive a new and simple iterative method termed the residual pressure feedback method that is used for computing free surface profile. The residual pressure that vanishes when the convergence is achieved is fed back in order to adjust the residual pressure at the free surface and the free surface elevation continuously during the process of iteration. The use of the proposed method is demonstrated through a typical example of flow under sluice gates. The calculated results agree satisfactorily with those obtained from other methods and experimental data. This method features a simple iterative process, an easy-to-formulate computer code, and rapid convergence. Unlike some iterative methods, it is not necessary to greatly modify the computer program when the method is used to calculate different examples.

The Finite Volume Particle Method (FVPM) is a meshless method that incorporates features of both Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and the Finite Volume Method. Here, two new formulations are presented which enhance its performance in simulation of free surface flows. One is a method for determining the velocity of the free surface, making use of a partial Riemann problem to analyse the flow between the particle barycentre and the geometric free surface. The second is a well-balanced formulation for gravity forces that enables hydrostatic equilibrium to be preserved exactly. Results are presented for hydrostatic, 1D impact, dambreak and deep-water standing wave test cases. Computations display convergence and good agreement with experimental data. The new methods recover exact hydrostatic equilibrium, improve robustness and reduce acoustic pressure fluctuations in dambreak flows, and reduce dissipation.

Free surface flow over square bars at different Reynolds numbers

Accurate simulation of turbulent free surface flows around surface ships has a central role in the optimal design of such naval vessels. The flow problem to be simulated is rich in complexity and poses many modeling challenges because of the existence of breaking waves around the ship hull, and because of the interaction of the two-phase flow with the turbulent boundary layer. In this paper, our goal is to estimate the lift and drag coefficients for NACA 0012 of hydrofoil advancing in calm water under steady conditions with free surface and emerged NACA 0015. The commercial CFD software FLUENT version 14 is used for the computations in the present study. The calculated grid is established using the code computer GAMBIT 2.3.26.The shear stress k-ωSST model is used for turbulence modeling and the volume of fluid technique is employed to simulate the free-surface motion. In this computation, the second order upwind scheme is used for discretizing the convection terms in the momentum transport equations, the Modified HRIC scheme for VOF discretisation. The results obtained compare well with the experimental data.

The numerical simulation of the two-dimensional free-surface flow resulting from the propagation of nonlinear gravity waves over constant-slope bottom is presented. The simulation is based on the numerical solution of the Euler equations subject to the fully nonlinear free-surface boundary conditions and the appropriate bottom, inflow and outflow conditions using a hybrid finite-differences and spectral-method scheme. Wave breaking is accounted for by a surface roller model. The formulation includes a boundary-fitted transformation and is suitable for future extension to incorporate large-eddy and large-wave simulation terms. Results are presented for the simulation of the free-surface flow over two different bottom topographies, with constant slope values of 1:10 and 1:50, and three different inflow wave heights. Over the bottom slope, waves of small wave heights are modified according to linear theory. For nonlinear waves, wavelengths are becoming shorter, the free surface elevation deviates from its initial sinusoidal shape and wave heights increase with decreasing depth. Breaking is observed for the cases with the larger initial wave height and the smaller outflow depth.

A novel CFD approach based on adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique is being developed for numerical simulation of violent free surface flows. CIP method is applied to the flow solver and tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing with slope weighting (THINC/SW) scheme is implemented as the free surface capturing scheme. The PETSc library is adopted to solve the linear system. The linear solver is redesigned and modified to satisfy the requirement of the AMR mesh topology. In this paper, our CFD method is outlined and newly obtained results on numerical simulation of violent free surface flows are presented.

Floodways, where a road embankment is permitted to be overtopped by flood water, are usually designed as broad-crested weirs. Determination of the water level above the floodway is crucial and related to road safety. Hydraulic performance of floodways can be assessed numerically using 1-D modelling or 3-D simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) packages. Turbulence modelling is one of the key elements in CFD simulations. A wide variety of turbulence models are utilized in CFD packages; in order to identify the most relevant turbulence model for the case in question, 96 3-D CFD simulations were conducted using Flow-3D package, for 24 broad-crested weir configurations selected based on experimental data from a previous study. Four turbulence models (one-equation, k-ε, RNG k-ε, and k-ω) ere examined for each configuration. The volume of fluid (VOF) algorithm was adopted for free water surface determination. In addition, 24 1-D simulations using HEC-RAS-1-D were conducted for comparison with CFD results and experimental data. Validation of the simulated water free surface profiles versus the experimental measurements was carried out by the evaluation of the mean absolute error, the mean relative error percentage, and the root mean square error. It was concluded that the minimum error in simulating the full upstream to downstream free surface profile is achieved by using one-equation turbulence model with mixing length equal to 7% of the smallest domain dimension. Nevertheless, for the broad-crested weir upstream section, no significant difference in accuracy was found between all turbulence models and the one-dimensional analysis results, due to the low turbulence intensity at this part. For engineering design purposes, in which the water level is the main concern at the location of the flood way, the one-dimensional analysis has sufficient accuracy to determine the water level.

A diffuse interface method for complex three-dimensional free surface flows

To simulate free surface flows, various numerical methods can be used. One of these numerical schemes is Smoothed particle hydrodynamics which, as a Lagrangian method, has been considered by many of researchers to model violent free surface deformation. In the present article, an effort has been made to find how solitary wave generation can be simulated using SPH method, more accurately. WCSPH formulation was utilized, different time stepping algorithms were considered and the effects of density filter and smoothing length on simulated solitary wave, and wave breaking were studied. The obtained results were compared with other solutions existing in the literature. Based on the numerical findings, it is concluded that predictor-corrector scheme in conjunction with moving least square (MLS) density filter can give more accurate results. It was also indicated that number of time steps in which density filter must be performed, plays an important role in achieving favorable results.

Development of mesh-free particle technique for simulation of non-hydrostatic free surface flow

This paper is concerned with describing the main improvements introduced to the MAC (Marker-And-Cell) method for the numerical simulation of low Reynolds number free surface flows, namely: a stable implicit treatment of the pressure boundary condition for projection methods, a semi-implicit method based on the Crank–Nicolson (C–N) discretization of the momentum equations, a more accurate method for moving the massless particles representing the free surface and a viscoelastic model based on the Pom-Pom constitutive law, are discussed. Low Reynolds number free surface flows appear in a number of important industrial processes in the oil, food, cosmetic and medical industries and their simulation present a challenge for explicit MAC-type methods due to their parabolic time step constraint. The simulation of moving boundary problems presents a number of difficulties for a numerical method. For the semi-implicit (C–N) MAC method the main difficulty appears in applying the projection method to uncouple velocity and pressure, this is in addition to other difficulties of correctly imposing the boundary conditions on the free surface and the free surface representation itself.

Methods used to track the free surface in numerical flow simulations, typically during the casting of metals into moulds are examined in this paper. The algorithm employed makes use of a mixed interpolation formulation to approximate the discretised governing equations for elimination on a Langrangian type moving mesh. Significant savings in CPU time are realised by virtue of the the air domain not being considered in the finite element analysis. The advantages and drawbacks of commonly used methods are discussed, and a method proposed for the numerical simulation of flow where the free surface boundary conditions are important. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in solving typical industrial flow problems is demonstrated using numerical examples. The results obtained are compared with analytical and numerical data with a view to validating the algorithm.

Modelling free-surface flow has very important applications in many engineering areas such as oil transportation and offshore structures. Current research focuses on the modelling of free surface flow in a tank by solving the Navier-Stokes equation. An unstructured finite volume method is used to discretize the governing equations. The free surface is tracked by dynamically adapting the mesh and making it always surface conforming. A mesh-smoothing scheme based on the spring analogy is also implemented to ensure mesh quality throughout the computaiton. Studies are performed on the sloshing response of a liquid in an elastic container subjected to various excitation frequencies. Further investigations are also carried out on the critical frequency that leads to large deformation of the tank walls. Another numerical simulation involves the free-surface flow past as submerged obstacle placed in the tank to show the flow separation and vortices. All these cases demonstrate the capability of this numerical method in modelling complicated practical problems.

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent free-surface high Prandtl number fluid flows in fusion reactors