A parallel adaptive projection method for incompressible two phase flows

Abstract

Direct numerical simulation of high density ratio multiphase flows requires a lot of computational resources. We have developed a parallel algorithm for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation in two-phase flows on an adaptive hierarchy of mesh. The interface between the two fluids is treated by a coupled Level-Set/Ghost-Fluid method; the parallel AMR is handled by the PARAMESH package, which assures good scaling. A robust solver for the variable density pressure equation has been developed, including an AMR levels-based multigrid preconditioner. The code has been applied to the study of the oscillation of a two dimensional liquid sheet sheared by an air flow, and global oscillation frequencies have been computed for a simplified test case. A high resolution computation has been performed to show two dimensional ligament formation and break-up. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.