Front tracking in recirculating flows: A comparison between the TVD and RCM methods in solving the VOF equation

Abstract

The modeling and simulation of mold filling must include a method to capture the interface formed between the inlet fluid and the fluid that was initially in the mold. A commonly used front-capturing method in a Eulerian mesh is the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. The VOF advection equation solution may show numerical diffusion and/or dispersion and high-order numerical schemes, such as the TVD schemes with dimensional splitting, have to be employed to discretize the convective terms. The present contribution explores the use of RCM for solution of the VOF color-function equation during mold filling with recirculating flows. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved by a finite-volume method using the SIMPLER algorithm. Filling simulations using the TVD and RCM methods are compared. RCM was able to generate diffusion-free results, sharply defining the interface, even when topological changes (generation of droplets) occur.