LAPSE:2019.1127
Published Article
LAPSE:2019.1127
Comparison of Surface Tension Models for the Volume of Fluid Method
Kurian J. Vachaparambil, Kristian Etienne Einarsrud
November 5, 2019
With the increasing use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to investigate multiphase flow scenarios, modelling surface tension effects has been a topic of active research. A well known associated problem is the generation of spurious velocities (or currents), arising due to inaccuracies in calculations of the surface tension force. These spurious currents cause nonphysical flows which can adversely affect the predictive capability of these simulations. In this paper, we implement the Continuum Surface Force (CSF), Smoothed CSF and Sharp Surface Force (SSF) models in OpenFOAM. The models were validated for various multiphase flow scenarios for Capillary numbers of 10 − 3 −10. All the surface tension models provide reasonable agreement with benchmarking data for rising bubble simulations. Both CSF and SSF models successfully predicted the capillary rise between two parallel plates, but Smoothed CSF could not provide reliable results. The evolution of spurious current were studied for millimetre-sized stationary bubbles. The results shows that SSF and CSF models generate the least and most spurious currents, respectively. We also show that maximum time step, mesh resolution and the under-relaxation factor used in the simulations affect the magnitude of spurious currents.
Keywords
capillary rise, rising bubbles, surface tension modelling, VOF
Suggested Citation
Vachaparambil KJ, Einarsrud KE. Comparison of Surface Tension Models for the Volume of Fluid Method. (2019). LAPSE:2019.1127
Author Affiliations
Vachaparambil KJ: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway [ORCID]
Einarsrud KE: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway
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Journal Name
Processes
Volume
7
Issue
8
Article Number
E542
Year
2019
Publication Date
2019-08-15
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
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Original Submission
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PII: pr7080542, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2019.1127
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doi:10.3390/pr7080542
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Nov 5, 2019
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Original Submitter
Calvin Tsay
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