New finite-element/finite-volume level set formulation for modelling two-phase incompressible flows

We present a new level set method for modelling two-phase incompressible flows with moving interface boundaries. The method is based on a finite element (FE) treatment of the equations governing the motion of the interface separating two immiscible phases, and a finite volume (FV) description of the fluid flow equations. The performance of the method is demonstrated and validated using several sample problems involving two-phase, isothermal flows with density ratios of the order of 102–103, and viscosity ratios as high as 7 × 104. Surface tension effects are included. The present formulation displays good convergence properties, and it is relatively simple to program. This allows the method to be implemented into existing commercial FV-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, thereby extending their application range. We have successfully implemented the method in the code CFX-4.