Characterizing numerical surface tension in the conservative volume-of-fluid method
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Nonphysical persistence and breakup of multiphase structures have been commonly observed in geometric Volume-of-fluid (gVOF) methods [1]. The resultant flotsam and jetsam become particularly apparent when the Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation (PLIC) scheme is employed. Notably, these nonphysical events manifest themselves as if additional physical surface tension were present [2]. Consequently, this effect is commonly referred to as artificial or numerical surface tension. The main aim of this study is to systematically characterize the numerical surface tension arising in the gVOF method, with specific emphasis on the operator-splitting conservative Volume-of-Fluid (cVOF) approach [3]. We will consider several high-energy two-phase flow cases featuring bubble break-up. The effect of numerical resolution and interface reconstruction scheme on the evolution of energy, enstrophy and bubble population will be quantified. Investigating these topics will help to understand the balance between numerical and physical surface tension under different numerical configurations and hopefully lead to an improved modeling approach suitable for multiphase simulations of high-energy flows across a wide range of Weber numbers.
