A Marker-Based, Adaptive/Multi-Grid Technique for Interfacial Fluid Dynamics

Multiphase flows associated with interfacial dynamics, steep jump in fluid-properties, and moving boundaries between different phases and materials pose substantial computational challenges. Modeling the interfacial dynamics often involves a compromise between the accuracy and efficiency. Recent progress made in handling the geometry of three-dimensional interfaces, adaptive grid refinement, and multigrid techniques is presented, in which the interface is tracked explicitly using markers on triangulated surface grid, while the field equations are solved using the Cartesian grid. A phase volume preserving technique for marker addition and deletion on three dimensional interfaces has been devised to ensure that the conservation laws are satisfied. Illustrative physical applications are presented to highlight the present technique.