Bubble simulations with an interface tracking technique based on a partitioned fluid-structure interaction algorithm

  • Authors:

  • J. Degroote;P. Bruggeman;R. Haelterman;J. Vierendeels

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, St.-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium;Department of Applied Physics, Ghent University, Jozef Plateaustraat 22, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium;Department of Mathematics (MWMW), Royal Military Academy, Renaissancelaan 30, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium;Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, St.-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

Numerical techniques frequently used for the simulation of one bubble can be classified as interface tracking techniques and interface capturing techniques. Most of these techniques calculate both the flow around the bubble and the shape of the interface between the gas and the liquid with one code. In this paper, a rising axisymmetric bubble is simulated with an interface tracking technique that uses separate codes to determine the position of the gas-liquid interface and to calculate the flow around the bubble. The grid converged results correspond well with the experimental data. The gas-liquid interface is conceived as a zero-mass, zero-thickness structure whose position is determined by the liquid forces, a uniform gas pressure and surface tension. Iterations between the two codes are necessary to obtain the coupled solution of both problems and these iterations are stabilized with a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) algorithm. The flow around the bubble is calculated on a moving mesh in a reference frame that rises at the same speed as the bubble. The flow solver first updates the mesh throughout the liquid domain given a position of the gas-liquid interface and then calculates the flow around the bubble. It is considered as a black box with the position of the gas-liquid interface as input and the liquid forces on the interface as output. During the iterations, a reduced-order model of the flow solver is generated from the inputs and outputs of the solver. The solver that calculates the interface position uses this model to adapt the liquid forces on the gas-liquid interface during the calculation of the interface position.