Evaluating the Performance of Various Convection Schemes on Free Surface Flows by Using Interfoam Solver

ABSTRACT: The main propose of this study is to analyze and compare the effects of different limiters on interface tracking within two phase flows. OpenFOAM source codes were employed as the base of analysis. In order to simulate the two phase incompressible flows in the OpenFOAM, the embedded InterFOAM solver has been used in this study. The solver is based on a modified volume of fluid (VOF) method. The VOF approach relies on a scalar indicator function between zero and unity to differentiate two different fluids. Since simulation results are affected by the applied convection schemes, selection of an appropriate scheme is significant. Discretization of the convection term is a controversial issue in the two phase flow simulations. In this thesis, investigation of the performance of the various limiters has been done on a variety of well-known validation test cases that include Dam-break problem, free bubble rise problem and advection of hollow shapes in an oblique velocity field problem. Results were obtained using the Upwind, Van-Leer, UMIST, QUICK and MULES convection schemes. With the comparison of these schemes, it has been observed that MULES is the most accurate scheme in tracking the interface. Keywords: OpenFOAM, InterFOAM, VOF, limiters, convection schemes, free-surface flow. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………