Coupling level-set with volume-of-fluid for interface computation of incompressible gas-liquid flows

Abstract

In this study, a solver coupling the level-set and volume-of-fluid methods is developed for interface computation of incompressible two-phase flows on the OpenFOAM platform. It corrects the surface tension, density, and viscosity of the fluids with the level-set function synchronously. To examine the effect of density and viscosity corrections, an intermediate solver that only corrects the surface tension force is also developed. Two test cases, that is, a bubble rising freely in stagnant water and a drop impacting on a liquid surface, are performed to validate and compare the capabilities of the new solvers. It is found that the coupling solver which corrects all the fluids’ properties mentioned above has the best prediction accuracy, especially for Rayleigh jet issues. With the application of this solver, the mechanism for the bubble entrainment in drop impact on a liquid pool is explained.