Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows

Model Implementation in OpenFOAM

Hrvoje Jasak
[email protected]

Wikki Ltd, United Kingdom

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 1
Outline
Objective
• Present physical modelling baseline and implementation details of multi-phase and
free surface algorithms
Topics
1. Overview of multi-phase modelling: Levels of approximation
2. Eulerian multi-phase flow model
3. Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) flow model
4. Thin liquid film model
5. Lagrangian particle tracking: Discrete particle model
6. Free surface tracking model

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 2
Multi-Phase Flow Modelling
Physical Modelling of Multi-Phase Flows
• Presence of multiple phases in the domain of interest. Inter-phase coupling is of
primary interest: momentum transfer between phases
• Phases described as a continuous phase (or background phase) and a
dispersed phase
• Levels of approximation: Coupled Approach
◦ Medium volume fraction: Euler-Euler approach. Phases are considered as
inter-penetrating continua occupying the same volume. Equations are solved
in a fully coupled manner in Eulerian formulation
◦ Low volume fraction: Euler-Lagrange approach. Continuous phase is
treated in the Eulerian manner, while the dispersed phase is represented by a
population of discrete parcels tracked in a Lagrangian manner
◦ Free surface flow model is a special case of Euler-Euler model, with a single
momentum equation and no phase inter-penetration. This is the only reliable
approach for high volume fraction
• Levels of approximation: Decoupled Approach
◦ Lagrangian particle tracking with uni-directional momentum transfer
◦ Wall film model: liquid transport along a curved surface in 3-D

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Eulerian Multi-Phase Model
Eulerian Multi-Phase Model
• The system is considered as two inter-penetrating continua filling the
computational domain
• Phase concentration followed by solving the volume fraction equation for αφ ,
which is derived from dispersed phase continuity
• Each phase is represented by its momentum equation. Phases exchange
momentum in a two-way manner: inter-phase lift and drag terms
• Pressure is considered to be shared between phases
• Equation set derived using conditional averaging technique, (Dopazo, 1977)

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 4
Eulerian Multi-Phase Model
Equation set for Eulerian Multi-Phase Flow
• Phase continuity equation

∂αφ
+ ∇•(uφ αφ ) = 0
∂t

• Phase momentum equation

∂(αφ uφ ) ef f αφ Mφ
+ ∇•(αφ uφ uφ ) + ∇•(αφ Rφ ) = − ∇p + αφ g +
∂t ρφ ρφ

• Defining volume velocity as a sum of phase velocities

X
u= αφ uφ
φ

• Volume continuity equation

∇•u = 0

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 5
Eulerian Multi-Phase Model
Eulerian Multi-Phase Model
• Main problem in derivation is calculating multiple uφ from a single pressure
equation: one pressure provides a single set of fluxes
• Solution: reformulated phase fraction equation (Rusche, 2003). Dropping
subscript and reducing to a two-phase system for simplicity

∂α
+ ∇•(uα) + ∇•[(uα − uβ ) α (1 − α)] = 0
∂t

The final term contains relative phase velocity and appears on the interface
• Reformulated momentum equation also uses volumetric velocity in the convection
term, avoiding issues with interpolation of phase fraction
• Partial elimination of drag terms for stability of momentum coupling

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Eulerian Multi-Phase Model

Example: Bubble Plume

• Bubble column experiment:
Gomes et al. 1998
• Air bubbles are injected at bottom
plate. Maximum flow velocity is
larger than injection velocity
because of recirculation
• Cases contains free surface:
need to handle α = 0 condition in
the equation set
• Simulations: Henrik Rusche, PhD
and OpenFOAM tutorial

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Free Surface Flow Modelling
Volume-of-Fluid Model
• Volume of Fluid Model: variant of multi-phase model preserving phase interface
• Immiscible condition combines momentum equations: no inter-penetrating
continua, no inter-phase drag terms
• Formulation follows Eulerian multi-phase model, but combines momentum
equations
• Phase continuity equation with volume fraction variable γ

∂γ
+ ∇•(uγ) = 0
∂t

• Combined momentum equation

∂(ρu)
+ ∇•(ρuu) − ∇•σ = −∇p + ρf + σκ∇γ
∂t

Note the presence of surface tension term, depending on curvature of free

surface. Curvature is calculated from γ field

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 8
Free Surface Flow Model
Free Surface Flow Modelling
• Phases are considered a single continuum, with jump in properties at the interface

u = γu1 + (1 − γ)u2
ρ = γρ1 + (1 − γ)ρ2
ν = γν1 + (1 − γ)ν2

Numerical Considerations: Sharp Interface

• Preserving sharpness of free surface is paramount
◦ Compressive numerics on ∇•(uγ) term: Onno Ubbink PhD, 1997. Problems
with parasitic velocities and dominant surface tension
◦ Relative velocity formulation, Rusche PhD 2003: use the Eulerian
two-phase form of the phase fraction equation, but manufacture relative
velocity term
∂α
+ ∇•(uα) + ∇•[ur α (1 − α)] = 0
∂t
where ur is a function of interface normal ∇γ

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 9
Free Surface Flow Model
Numerical Considerations: Pressure Handling
• Pressure field contains several tricky terms
◦ Gravity contribution: hydrostatic pressure from ρf
◦ Surface tension term: in distributed form σκ∇γ
• To ensure smooth numerics, both terms are removed from momentum equation
and built into the pressure. This replaces static pressure with its dynamic
(piezometric) equivalent; static pressure can be recovered separately
Numerical Considerations: Surface Curvature and Surface Tension
• Surface curvature calculated from volume fraction gradient

∇γ
 
κ = ∇•
|∇γ|

• Distributed form of surface tension pressure jump

Z
σκ′ n′ δ(x − x′ ) dS ≈ σκ∇γ
S(t)

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 10
Free Surface Flow Model
Examples
• Efficient handling of interface breakup
• Accurate handling of dominant surface tension: no parasitic velocity
• OpenFOAM solver: interFoam, rasInterFoam, no modifications
Ink-Jet Printer Nozzle, d = 20µm: Breakup Under Dominant Surface Tension

Complex Surface Breakup Phenomena: Sloshing and wet wall impact

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 11
Free Surface Flow Model
Examples: LES of a Diesel Injector
• Injection of Diesel fuel into the atmosphere and subsequent breakup
• d = 0.2mm, high velocity and surface tension
• Mean injection velocity: 460m/s injected into air, 5.2MPa, 900K
• 1.2 to 8 million cells, aggressive local mesh refinement
• 50k time-steps, 6µs initiation time, 20µs averaging time
• OpenFOAM solver: lesInterFoam, no modifications

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Free Surface Flow Model
Examples: Three-Phase Free Surface Flow in a Tundish
• 3 phases with extreme density ratio: liquid steel, liquid slag, air (7000:2500:1)
• Similar viscosity ratio, probably requires a temperature-dependent model
• Note the presence of multiple phase-to-phase interfaces: using consistent
discretisation across phase γ equations
• Simultaneous filling and pouring with large outlet velocity
• Temperature-dependent properties of slag and steel

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Dynamic Mesh: Floating Body
Example: Single Floating Body in Free Surface Flow (VOF)
• Single phase VOF free surface flow model with accurate pressure reconstruction
• 6-DOF force balance for solid body motion: solving an ODE
• Variable diffusivity Laplacian motion solver with 6-DOF boundary motion as the
boundary condition condition

Problem Setup
1. Specify mesh, material properties and initial + boundary flow conditions
2. Dynamic mesh type: sixDofMotion. Mesh holds floatingBody objects
3. A floating body holds 6-DOF parameters: mass, moment of inertia, support, forces
4. Flow solver only sees a dynamicMesh: encapsulated motion

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Floating Body Simulations
Multiple Floating Bodies
• Problem setup: as above, but with multiple bodies ⌣
¨
• Example: simulation of two bodies in close proximity with different distance
• Elastic support for each boat in the x-direction with linear spring and damping;
minor elastic support in the y-direction
• Automatic mesh motion shows its use: adding constrained components is trivial
• Extensive validation effort under way in collaboration with clients and University
research groups

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Floating Body Simulations
Capsizing Body with Topological Changes or GGI
• Full capsize of a floating body cannot be handled without topology change
• Mesh motion is decomposed into translational and rotational component
◦ External mesh performs only translational motion
◦ Rotation on capsize accommodated by a GGI interface
• Automatic motion solver handles the decomposition, based on 6-DOF solution
• Mesh inside of the sphere is preserved: boundary layer resolution
• Precise handling of GGI interface is essential: boundedness and mass
conservation for the VOF variable must be preserved

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Liquid Film Model
• Model developed for cases of thin film, where film thickness is small compared to
other geometrical dimensions
• Equations are derived prescribing a velocity profile across film thickness and
integrating conservation equations over the film
S fs n
m Ss
h
Vfs
Sw
V

• Working variables
◦ Film thickness h, derived from mass conservation and handling pressure
◦ Mean film velocity V
• Equation set solved in 2-D, accounting for gravity, surface tension and surface
curvature; shear stress on the wall and free surface of liquid film are taken into
account as area-based terms

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Liquid Film Model
Equation Set of a This Liquid Film Model
• Continuity equation
∂h ṁS
+ ∇s • (v̄h) = ;
∂t ρL
• Momentum equation

∂(hv̄) 1
h 1
+ ∇s • (hv̄v̄ + C) = τ f s − τ w + hgt − ∇s pL + S̄v ;
∂t ρL ρL ρL

• Shear stress terms and the convection term correction tensor C are calculated
from prescribed velocity profile
• Liquid film pressure
pL = pg + pd + pσ + ph

where
◦ pg is the gas pressure
◦ pd is the droplet impact pressure
◦ pσ is capillary (or Laplace) pressure
◦ ph is hydrostatic pressure

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Liquid Film Model
Solution of Surface-Based Equations: Finite Area Method
• Liquid film model: shallow water model on a curved surface with surface tension
• Mesh organisation attached to volumetric FVM solver: easy coupling
• Full parallelisation at equation level, following FVM domain decomposition
• Example: collapse of five surface blobs under surface tension and gravity

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Lagrangian Particle Tracking
Integration of Discrete Phase Equations
• Momentum equation for a single droplet in Lagrangian frame

dud
md = Fd + Fp + Fv + Fb
dt

◦ Fd is the drag force:

1
Fd = Cd ρAd urel |urel |
2
◦ Fp is the pressure force:
Fp = −Vd ∇p

◦ Fa is the virtual mass force:

durel
Fp = −Ca ρVd
dt

◦ Fb is the body force, e.g. gravity

dxd
• Droplet position is integrated by tracking: dt
= ud

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 20
Lagrangian Particle Tracking
Euler-Lagrange Multi-Phase Model
• Continuous phase represented by Euler equations, assuming low volume fraction
of the dispersed phase (< 10%)
• Dispersed phase modelled by tracking particles in a mesh, with momentum
exchange between the two
• In continuous phase equations it is assumed that the dispersed phase is
sufficiently dilute to neglect dispersed phase volume fraction effects
• Coupling appears in the continuous momentum equation:

∂u
+ ∇•(uu) − ∇•σ = −∇p + sud
∂t

• sud is the total momentum exchange between the continuous and discrete phase.
This is calculated on a per-cell basis:

ud − uod
 
1 X
sud = md − Fp − Fb
V ∆t
d in V

• Effective viscosity and source/sink term volume correction is also used

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Surface Soiling Simulation

Volume-Surface-Lagrangian Simulation
• Main coupling challenge is to
implement all components
side-by-side and control their
interaction
• Lagrangian tracking uses an ODE
solver: block coupling at matrix
level is not needed or cannot be
used as before
• Close coupling is achieved by
sub-cycling or iterations over the
block system for each time-step
• In terms of software architecture, coupling of volumetric, surface and Lagrangian
models is easier to handle
• If the model-to-model coupling fails, options on improving the stability are
considerably limited
• Known pathological cases: simulating spray penetration: adaptive mesh
refinement solves the problem!

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Free Surface Tracking
Free Surface Tracking Simulations
• A free surface flow system can be viewed as two sets of fluid flow equations
coupled at the surface. Surface conditions:
◦ Free surface is infinitely thin
◦ There is no flow through the free surface: fluids are separated
◦ Kinematic condition: Normal velocity component must be continuous across
the interface
◦ Dynamic condition: Forces acting on the fluid at the interface are in
equilibrium
• In practice, motion of one side and pressure from the other side will be exchanged
until both conditions are satisfied
• Free surface tracking may be interpreted as a FV simulation on a moving
deforming mesh, where the position of the free surface is a part of the solution and
not known in advance
• In practical simulations, only the surface deformation is known: the rest of the
mesh must accommodate boundary motion

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 23
Free Surface Tracking
Hydrofoil Under A Free Surface
• Flow solver gives surface displacement Single Solver, Complex Coupling
• Mesh adjusted to free surface position • FVM on moving meshes
• Automatic mesh motion
• FAM: Surface physics
vb = −vF

Free-Rising Air Bubble with Surfactants

• Two meshes coupled on free surface

vF y′ aF
SB
SA o′ x′
Free
rF
surface
y

o
x

OpenFOAM Course, Uni Ghent 3-4/May/2016. Tracking 5568512168 Multi-Phase and Free Surface Flows – p. 24
Summary
Free Surface Flow Modelling in OpenFOAM
• OpenFOAM provides several modelling paradigms for multi-phase and free
surface flows
◦ Eulerian multi-phase model for inter-penetrating continua
◦ Free surface VOF solver: volumetric surface capturing
◦ Free surface tracking model for wetted surfaces
◦ Lagrangian particle tracking: discrete particle model
◦ Free surface tracking model: mesh motion adheres to free surface position
• Customised solvers, coupling above models or acting zonally can be implemented

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