Simulations of Flow Transitions in a Vertical Pipe Using Coupled Level Set and VOF Method

Abstract

The level set (LS) and volume-of-fluid (VOF) methods are usually employed to simulate the two-phase flow. However every single method of them will face the mass conservative or accurate issues during the simulation. The coupled level set and volume-of-fluid (CLSVOF) method was not only able to conquer the shortages of the LS and VOF methods but also simultaneously keep the merits of both of the methods. In CLSVOF method the geometry reconstruction technology was employed to realize the coupling between LS and VOF. After the validation of single bubble rising cases, the CLSVOF method was used to simulate the complex transitional two-phase flows in a vertical pipe and the simulation results were compared to experiments.