A XFEM phase change model with convection

Abstract

A model for two dimensional solidification problems including convection was developed by coupling the Stefan problem with the Stokes problem. The extended finite element method (XFEM) was used to capture the strong discontinuity in velocity and pressure as well as the jump in heat flux at the phase change interface. The melting temperature and no-slip condition were imposed on the interface using a Lagrange multiplier and the penalization method, respectively. The resulting formulations were then coupled using a fixed point iteration algorithm. The model was able to reproduce the benchmark simulations while maintaining a sharp phase change interface.