Interface tracking towards the direct simulation of heat and mass transfer in multiphase flows

The paper presents recent trends in the development of prediction methods for the direct numerical simulation of multiphase flows based on the one-fluid formalism coupled with various interface tracking algorithms. The methods are based on solving a single set of transport equations for the whole computational domain and treating the different phases as a single fluid with variable material properties. Changes in these properties are accounted for by advecting a phase indicator function. Interfacial exchange terms are incorporated by adding the appropriate sources as delta functions or smoothed gradients of the composition field at or across the interface. The strategies are first discussed within the isothermal phase context and then for situations featuring inter-phase heat and mass transfer. Various aspects such as the treatment of capillary forces are discussed, supported by selected examples demonstrating recent progress drawn from the current work of the authors.