AN ALGORITHM FOR SIMULATION OF STEADY FREE SURFACE FLOWS

Abstract

An algorithm to simulate steady, viscous free surface flows is presented in this paper. A Picard-type approach wherein the flow and free surface updates are performed alternately is utilized to iterate for a solution. The procedure is intended for large-scale two- or three-dimensional problems. A surface-intrinsic co-ordinate system which facilities representation of general free surface shapes is used. Using a Galerkin finite element method (GFEM), two free surface updates, namely kinematic and normal stress updates are formulated. It is shown that the effects of surface tension, surface tension gradients and imposition of contact angles can be simulated elegantly within the framework of the GFEM. A novel feature of the updates is that the deformations are sought in a direction normal to the current iterate free surface shape, with the result that the method is ideally suited when used in conjunction with an automatic mesh generator. With the normal stress update a volume constraint can also be imposed. A segregated method is utilized to solve iteratively one degree of freedom at a time for the solution of the flow variables. As a result, the memory and disc space requirements are minimal. Sample problems in extrusion, coating and crystal growth are presented to clearly illustrate the convergence behaviour and accuracy of the algorithm.