Free-surface modelling technology for compressible and violent flows

Abstract

This study presents the development of novel modelling technology for compressible and violent free-surface flows, where the new technology aims to extend the capabilities of existing FSM formulations. For the purpose of this study the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method is extended in two ways: Firstly, we aim to improve on the accuracy of existing free-surface interface capturing schemes, and secondly, a newly developed weakly compressible formulation is introduced. The proposed interface capturing formulation reduces the degree of numerical smearing while maintaining the interface shape. It involves combining the approaches of blended higher-resolution discretisation and adding an artificial compressive term in a manner which retains the strength of each. The weakly compressible formulation proposes an altered governing equation set which accurately accounts for large variance in gas density at low Mach numbers and may be solved at little additional computational cost. All governing equations are discretized via an unstructured edge-based vertex centred finite volume method solved via a parallel implicit solver. The newly developed technology is validated through application to various benchmark test cases.