A Flexible Coupled Level Set and Volume of Fluid (flexCLV) method to simulate microscale two-phase flow in non-uniform and unstructured meshes

An innovative Flexible Coupled Level Set (LS) and Volume of Fluid (VOF) algorithm (flexCLV) to simulate two-phase flows at the microscale on unstructured and non-uniform meshes is proposed. The method combines the advantages of the VOF method in terms of mass conservation and the LS method in terms of accuracy of the surface tension implementation and can handle both 2D and 3D domains discretized by either structured hexaedra or unstructured tetrahedral grids with high aspect ratio elements, thus guaranteeing flexibility and robustness. The method is implemented within the VOF-based OpenFOAM's solver interFoam, which is retained as the base algorithm for the interface advection, while the surface tension force is calculated by using the level set function reconstructed from the VOF's fraction. The method is first validated in static flow conditions by simulating a circular bubble at equilibrium and then in dynamic flow conditions by studying a freely bubble rising in both 2D and 3D domains discretized by both structured and unstructured meshes. The proposed flexCLV algorithm is then used to simulate the dynamics of confined bubbles in circular microchannels in the low capillary number regime. 2D and 3D mesh grids with high aspect ratio elements are utilized to discretized the liquid film at the tube's walls. The numerical results are compared with the available literature and simulations performed with the original interFoam solver in terms of bubble shape and velocity, thickness of the liquid film and amplitude of the bubble tail oscillations. Results compare very well with the experimental measurements and demonstrate the superior accuracy of the coupled flexCLV method with respect to the original VOF method when surface tension and accurate interface representation play a fundamental role. Importantly, the present study also provides a precious insight on the time-dependent patterns appearing on the bubble surface in the visco-inertial regime, which could be here investigated in detail. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of isolated confined air bubbles in liquid flows through circular microchannels: an experimental and numerical study

Navid Borhani, Sepideh Khodaparast, Mirco Magnini, John Richard Thome

Experimental and numerical studies are performed to characterise the dynamics of isolated confined air bubbles in laminar fully developed liquid flows within channels of diameters d = 0.5 mm and d = 1 mm. Water and glycerol are used as the continuous liquid phase, and therefore, a large range of flow capillary numbers 10(-4) < Ca < 10(-1) and Reynolds numbers 10(-3) < Re < 10(3) are covered. An extensive investigation is performed on the effect of bubble size and flow capillary number on different flow parameters, such as the shape and velocity of bubbles, thickness of the liquid film formed between the bubbles and the channel wall, and the development lengths in front and at the back of the bubbles. The micro-particle shadow velocimetry technique (mu PSV) is employed in the experimental measurements allowing simultaneous quantification of important flow parameters using a single sequence of high-speed greyscale images recorded at each test condition. Bubble volume and flow rate of the continuous liquid phase are precisely determined in the post-processing stage using the mu PSV images. These parameters are then used as initial and boundary conditions to set up CFD simulations reproducing the corresponding two-phase flow. Simulations based on the volume of fluid technique with the aim of capturing the interface dynamics are performed with both ANSYS Fluent v. 14.5, here augmented by implementing self-defined functions to improve the accuracy of the surface tension force estimation, and ESI OpenFOAM v. 2.1.1. The present approach not only results in valuable findings on the underlying physics involved in the problem of interest but also allows us to directly compare and validate results that are currently obtained by the experimental and computational methods. It is believed that similar methodology can be employed to rigorously investigate more complex two-phase flow regimes in micro-geometries.

Springer Verlag2015

Computational fluid dynamics for naval engineering problems

Nicola Parolini

The subject of this thesis is the numerical simulation of viscous free-surface flows in naval engineering applications. State-of-the-art numerical methods based on the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations are used to predict the flow around different classes of boats. We investigate the role of the Computational Fluid Dynamics in the design of racing boats, such as America's Cup yachts and Olympic class rowing hull. The mathematical models describing the different aspects of the physical problem, as well as the numerical methods adopted for their solution, are introduced and critically discussed. The different phases of the overall numerical simulation procedure, from grid generation through the solution of the flow equations to the post-processing of the results, are described. We present the numerical simulations that have been performed to investigate the role of different design parameters in the conception of America's Cup yachts and we describe how the results obtained from the simulations are integrated into the overall design process. The free-surface flow around an Olympic rowing boat is also considered. We propose a simplified approach to take into account the effect of the boat dynamics in the prediction of the hydrodynamic forces acting on the boat. Based on the results of the simulations, we propose a new design concept and we investigate its potential benefits on the boat performances. One of the aspects that is found to be not completely satisfactory, within the standard numerical methods adopted, is the modelling of complex free-surface flows. The second part of this thesis is devoted to a more theoretical and methodological investigation of this aspect. In particular, we present and analyse a new numerical method based on the level set approach for the solution of two-fluid flows. The numerical scheme based on a finite element discretization is introduced and different critical aspects of its implementation are discussed. In particular, we present and analyse a new technique for the stabilization of the advection equation associated to the level set problem. Moreover, we propose a new reinitialization procedure for the level set function which plays a crucial role in the accuracy of the algorithm. The convergence properties of this procedure are analysed and comparisons with more standard approaches are presented. Finally, the proposed method has been used to solve a variety of test cases concerning time dependent two-fluid viscous flows. The results of the simulation are presented and discussed.

EPFL2004

Fundamental study on microlayer dynamics in nucleate boiling

Lubomír Bures

Dynamics of nucleate boiling are strongly affected by the formation and behaviour of the microlayer, a layer of liquid underneath growing bubbles. As a result of its minute thickness, very high heat fluxes occur within the microlayer and its evaporation contributes significantly to the overall heat transfer. Microlayer formation is, however, not guaranteed and the transition from the contact-line to the microlayer regime of nucleate boiling is not fully understood. The difficulty of experimental investigation of the microlayer and the uncertainties surrounding its formation and subsequent evolution motivate the use of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) to model its behaviour. In this work, a computational strategy for utilising DNS to model nucleate boiling by resolving explicitly the microlayer is developed. The numerical method is based on the resolution of continuum conservation equations for incompressible two-phase flows in Cartesian and axisymmetric cylindrical coordinates. The phasic interface is tracked by means of the geometric Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method and the algorithm is applicable both to adiabatic and volatile flows. Online, implicit coupling of the fluid and solid domains for the solution of the conjugate heat-transfer problem is included and closure models for the treatment of the interfacial heat-transfer resistance and the dynamic contact angle are introduced. A rigorous verification and validation exercise is performed to evaluate the efficacy of the numerical algorithm. Subsequently, a theoretical criterion for modelling the transition between contact-line and microlayer regimes is derived, and tested. Very good agreement is found with the reference experimental and simulation data and the predictive power of the criterion is demonstrated with the aid of DNS results. The computational procedure is then validated for simulations of nucleate boiling with resolved microlayer using relevant experimental data recently measured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; it is shown that the main observed growth features and surface heat-transfer characteristics are well-reproduced using the overall method. A sensitivity study of the dependence of the initial microlayer thickness on the growth conditions is performed and a universal equation describing the thickness distribution is proposed with liquid properties and bubble expansion rate being the governing parameters. Finally, the computational method is extended to coarse-mesh problems by introducing several reduced-order models and the full bubble-growth cycle from nucleation to detachment is simulated. Good agreement with reference measurements is again achieved and the experimental findings regarding the force balance during nucleate boiling are confirmed.

EPFL2021