DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A consistent and conservative Phase-Field method for multiphase incompressible flows

Journal Article · · Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics

In the present study, a consistent and conservative Phase-Field method, including both the model and scheme, is developed for multiphase flows with an arbitrary number of immiscible and incompressible fluid phases. The consistency of mass conservation and the consistency of mass and momentum transport are implemented to address the issue of physically coupling the Phase-Field equation, which locates different phases, to the hydrodynamics. These two consistency conditions, as illustrated, provide the “optimal” coupling because (i) the new momentum equation resulting from them is Galilean invariant and implies the kinetic energy conservation, regardless of the details of the Phase-Field equation, and (ii) failures of satisfying the second law of thermodynamics or the consistency of reduction of the multiphase flow model only result from the same failures of the Phase-Field equation but are not due to the new momentum equation. Physical interpretation of the consistency conditions and their formulations are first provided, and general formulations that are obtained from the consistency conditions and independent of the interpretation of the velocity are summarized. Then, the present consistent and conservative multiphase flow model is completed by selecting a reduction consistent Phase-Field equation. Several novel techniques are developed to inherit the physical properties of the multiphase flows after discretization, including the gradient-based phase selection procedure, the momentum conservative method for the surface force, and the general theorems to preserve the consistency conditions on the discrete level. Equipped with those novel techniques, a consistent and conservative scheme for the present multiphase flow model is developed and analyzed. The scheme satisfies the consistency conditions, conserves the mass and momentum, and assures the summation of the volume fractions to be unity, on the fully discrete level and for an arbitrary number of phases. All those properties are numerically validated. Finally, numerical applications demonstrate that the present model and scheme are robust and effective in studying complicated multiphase dynamics, especially for those with large-density ratios.

Research Organization:
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); US Army Research Office (ARO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0021142
OSTI ID:
1976901
Journal Information:
Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Journal Name: Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics Journal Issue: C Vol. 408; ISSN 0377-0427
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (93)

Quantitative benchmark computations of two-dimensional bubble dynamics journal August 2009
On the Theory and Computation of Surface Tension: The Elimination of Parasitic Currents through Energy Conservation in the Second-Gradient Method journal October 2002
Cahn–Hilliard/Navier–Stokes Model for the Simulation of Three-Phase Flows journal May 2009
A front-tracking method for viscous, incompressible, multi-fluid flows journal May 1992
Comparison between the diffuse interface and volume of fluid methods for simulating two-phase flows journal July 2019
A monotonicity preserving conservative sharp interface flow solver for high density ratio two-phase flows journal September 2013
On the computation of viscous terms for incompressible two-phase flows with Level Set/Ghost Fluid Method journal November 2015
A review of level-set methods and some recent applications journal January 2018
Study of a three component Cahn-Hilliard flow model journal July 2006
Oil Lenses on Water and the Nature of Monomolecular Expanded Films journal November 1933
Numerical Models of Surface Tension journal January 2018
A volume-tracking method for incompressible multifluid flows with large density variations journal August 1998
Quantitative benchmark computations of two-dimensional bubble dynamics journal August 2009
Multi‐material incompressible flow simulation using the moment‐of‐fluid method
  • Schofield, Samuel P.; Christon, Mark A.; Dyadechko, Vadim
  • International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, Vol. 63, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/fld.2108
journal June 2009
A simple algebraic interface capturing scheme using hyperbolic tangent function journal January 2005
A modified phase field approximation for mean curvature flow with conservation of the volume journal March 2011
A Level Set Approach for Computing Solutions to Incompressible Two-Phase Flow journal September 1994
Efficient Implementation of Weighted ENO Schemes journal June 1996
Fully Conservative Higher Order Finite Difference Schemes for Incompressible Flow journal June 1998
A Non-oscillatory Eulerian Approach to Interfaces in Multimaterial Flows (the Ghost Fluid Method) journal July 1999
Calculation of Two-Phase Navier–Stokes Flows Using Phase-Field Modeling journal October 1999
A Projection FEM for Variable Density Incompressible Flows journal November 2000
A Front-Tracking Method for the Computations of Multiphase Flow journal May 2001
On the Theory and Computation of Surface Tension: The Elimination of Parasitic Currents through Energy Conservation in the Second-Gradient Method journal October 2002
Cahn–Hilliard/Navier–Stokes Model for the Simulation of Three-Phase Flows journal May 2009
On multicomponent, multiphase thermomechanics with interfaces journal November 1994
Volume of fluid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries journal January 1981
Fronts propagating with curvature-dependent speed: Algorithms based on Hamilton-Jacobi formulations journal November 1988
Numerical simulations of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability journal April 1988
A continuum method for modeling surface tension journal June 1992
A front-tracking method for viscous, incompressible, multi-fluid flows journal May 1992
Phase field computations for ternary fluid flows journal September 2007
A generalized continuous surface tension force formulation for phase-field models for multi-component immiscible fluid flows journal August 2009
Consistent mass and momentum transport for simulating incompressible interfacial flows with large density ratios using the level set method journal June 2012
A new conservative vector-valued Allen–Cahn equation and its fast numerical method journal December 2017
Evaluation of level set and phase field methods in modeling two phase flow with viscosity contrast through dual-permeability porous medium journal June 2013
Comparison between the diffuse interface and volume of fluid methods for simulating two-phase flows journal July 2019
A consistent and conservative volume distribution algorithm and its applications to multiphase flows using Phase-Field models journal September 2021
A continuous surface tension force formulation for diffuse-interface models journal April 2005
A conservative level set method for two phase flow journal November 2005
A balanced-force algorithm for continuous and sharp interfacial surface tension models within a volume tracking framework journal March 2006
A conservative level set method for two phase flow II journal July 2007
Diffuse interface model for incompressible two-phase flows with large density ratios journal October 2007
A second-order accurate material-order-independent interface reconstruction technique for multi-material flow simulations journal February 2009
An accurate adaptive solver for surface-tension-driven interfacial flows journal September 2009
An interface capturing method with a continuous function: The THINC method with multi-dimensional reconstruction journal March 2012
A time-stepping scheme involving constant coefficient matrices for phase-field simulations of two-phase incompressible flows with large density ratios journal July 2012
A practical numerical framework for free surface flows based on CLSVOF method, multi-moment methods and density-scaled CSF model: Numerical simulations of droplet splashing journal January 2013
A monotonicity preserving conservative sharp interface flow solver for high density ratio two-phase flows journal September 2013
An efficient algorithm for incompressible N-phase flows journal November 2014
Physical formulation and numerical algorithm for simulating N immiscible incompressible fluids involving general order parameters journal February 2015
On the computation of viscous terms for incompressible two-phase flows with Level Set/Ghost Fluid Method journal November 2015
A three-dimensional volume-of-fluid method for reconstructing and advecting three-material interfaces forming contact lines journal February 2016
Diffuse interface simulation of ternary fluids in contact with solid journal March 2016
Phase field modeling and simulation of three-phase flow on solid surfaces journal August 2016
A mass and momentum conserving unsplit semi-Lagrangian framework for simulating multiphase flows journal March 2017
Wall-bounded multiphase flows of N immiscible incompressible fluids: Consistency and contact-angle boundary condition journal June 2017
Multiphase Allen–Cahn and Cahn–Hilliard models and their discretizations with the effect of pairwise surface tensions journal August 2017
A reformulation of the conservative level set reinitialization equation for accurate and robust simulation of complex multiphase flows journal August 2017
Toward efficient and accurate interface capturing on arbitrary hybrid unstructured grids: The THINC method with quadratic surface representation and Gaussian quadrature journal November 2017
A review of level-set methods and some recent applications journal January 2018
Multiphase flows of N immiscible incompressible fluids: A reduction-consistent and thermodynamically-consistent formulation and associated algorithm journal May 2018
Coupled THINC and level set method: A conservative interface capturing scheme with high-order surface representations journal November 2018
Conservative phase-field lattice-Boltzmann model for ternary fluids journal December 2018
A mixed upwind/central WENO scheme for incompressible two-phase flows journal June 2019
A robust incompressible Navier-Stokes solver for high density ratio multiphase flows journal August 2019
An energy stable C0 finite element scheme for a quasi-incompressible phase-field model of moving contact line with variable density journal March 2020
Consistent, essentially conservative and balanced-force Phase-Field method to model incompressible two-phase flows journal April 2020
Consistent and conservative scheme for incompressible two-phase flows using the conservative Allen-Cahn model journal November 2020
An efficient numerical method for simulating multiphase flows using a diffuse interface model journal April 2015
Diffuse interface modeling of two-phase flows based on averaging: mass and momentum equations journal November 2004
Recent Numerical and Algorithmic Advances within the Volume Tracking Framework for Modeling Interfacial Flows journal January 2015
A thermodynamically consistent phase-field model for two-phase flows with thermocapillary effects journal February 2015
Unsaturated Flow Theory Including Interfacial Phenomena journal August 1991
Study of a three component Cahn-Hilliard flow model journal July 2006
Oil Lenses on Water and the Nature of Monomolecular Expanded Films journal November 1933
Nonlocal reaction—diffusion equations and nucleation journal January 1992
Quasi–incompressible Cahn–Hilliard fluids and topological transitions
  • Lowengrub, J.; Truskinovsky, L.
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 454, Issue 1978 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1998.0273
journal October 1998
XSEDE: Accelerating Scientific Discovery journal September 2014
A Class of Conservative Phase Field Models for Multiphase Fluid Flows journal September 2013
General Diffuse-Interface Theories and an Approach to Predictive Tumor Growth Modeling journal March 2010
Thermodynamically Consistent, Frame Indifferent Diffuse Interface Models for Incompressible Two-Phase Flows with Different Densities journal March 2012
Hierarchy of consistent n-component Cahn–Hilliard systems journal October 2014
Numerical Models of Surface Tension journal January 2018
Mathematical Modeling of Two-Phase Flow journal January 1983
Diffuse-Interface Methods in Fluid Mechanics journal January 1998
Direct Numerical Simulation of Free-Surface and Interfacial flow journal January 1999
L EVEL S ET M ETHODS FOR F LUID I NTERFACES journal January 2003
A numerical study of the turbulent flow past an isolated airfoil with trailing edge separation conference June 1982
Phase field modeling and simulation of three-phase flows journal January 2005
A projection method for motion of triple junctions by level sets journal January 2002
Mass and Volume Conservation in Phase Field Models for Binary Fluids journal April 2013
Phase-Field Models for Multi-Component Fluid Flows journal September 2012