Simulation of two-phase flow with sub-scale droplet and bubble effects

Abstract

We present a new Eulerian-Lagrangian method for physics-based simulation of fluid flow, which includes automatic generation of sub-scale spray and bubbles. The Marker Level Set method is used to provide a simple geometric criterion for free marker generation. A filtering method, inspired from Weber number thresholding, further controls the free marker generation (in a physics-based manner). Two separate models are used, one for sub-scale droplets, the other for sub-scale bubbles. Droplets are evolved in a Newtonian manner, using a density-extension drag force field, while bubbles are evolved using a model based on Stokes Law. We show that our model for sub-scale droplet and bubble dynamics is simple to couple with a full (macro-scale) Navier-Stokes two-phase flow model and is quite powerful in its applications. Our animations include coarse grained multiphase features interacting with fine scale multiphase features.