A phase-field model and its efficient numerical method for two-phase flows on arbitrarily curved surfaces in 3D space

Abstract

Herein, we present a phase-field model and its efficient numerical method for incompressible single and binary fluid flows on arbitrarily curved surfaces in a three-dimensional (3D) space. An incompressible single fluid flow is governed by the Navier–Stokes (NS) equation and the binary fluid flow is governed by the two-phase Navier–Stokes–Cahn–Hilliard (NSCH) system. In the proposed method, we use a narrow band domain to embed the arbitrarily curved surface and extend the NSCH system and apply a pseudo-Neumann boundary condition that enforces constancy of the dependent variables along the normal direction of the points on the surface. Therefore, we can use the standard discrete Laplace operator instead of the discrete Laplace–Beltrami operator. Within the narrow band domain, the Chorin’s projection method is applied to solve the NS equation, and a convex splitting method is employed to solve the Cahn–Hilliard equation with an advection term. To keep the velocity field tangential to the surface, a velocity correction procedure is applied. An effective mass correction step is adopted to preserve the phase concentration. Computational results such as convergence test, Kevin–Helmholtz instability, and Rayleigh–Taylor instability on curved surfaces demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.