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Parallelized numerical modeling of the interaction of a solid object with immiscible incompressible two-phase fluid flow

Amirmahdi Ghasemi (Mechanical Engineering Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA)
R. Nikbakhti (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran)
Amirreza Ghasemi (Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran)
Faraz Hedayati (Young Researchers and Elite Club, Neyshabur Branch, Islamic Azad University Sari Branch, Sari, Iran)
Amir Malvandi (Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran)

Engineering Computations

ISSN: 0264-4401

Article publication date: 2 May 2017

196

Abstract

Purpose

A numerical method is developed to capture the interaction of solid object with two-phase flow with high density ratios. The current computational tool would be the first step of accurate modeling of wave energy converters in which the immense energy of the ocean can be extracted at low cost.

Design/methodology/approach

The full two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are discretized on a regular structured grid, and the two-step projection method along with multi-processing (OpenMP) is used to efficiently solve the flow equations. The level set and the immersed boundary methods are used to capture the free surface of a fluid and a solid object, respectively. The full two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are solved on a regular structured grid to resolve the flow field. Level set and immersed boundary methods are used to capture the free surface of liquid and solid object, respectively. A proper contact angle between the solid object and the fluid is used to enhance the accuracy of the advection of the mass and momentum of the fluids in three-phase cells.

Findings

The computational tool is verified based on numerical and experimental data with two scenarios: a cylinder falling into a rectangular domain due to gravity and a dam breaking in the presence of a fixed obstacle. In the former validation simulation, the accuracy of the immersed boundary method is verified. However, the accuracy of the level set method while the computational tool can model the high-density ratio is confirmed in the dam-breaking simulation. The results obtained from the current method are in good agreement with experimental data and other numerical studies.

Practical/implications

The computational tool is capable of being parallelized to reduce the computational cost; therefore, an OpenMP is used to solve the flow equations. Its application is seen in the following: wind energy conversion, interaction of solid object such as wind turbine with water waves, etc.

Originality/value

A high efficient CFD approach method is introduced to capture the interaction of solid object with a two-phase flow where they have high-density ratio. The current method has the ability to efficiently be parallelized.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their insightful comments that led to an improvement in the paper.

Citation

Ghasemi, A., Nikbakhti, R., Ghasemi, A., Hedayati, F. and Malvandi, A. (2017), "Parallelized numerical modeling of the interaction of a solid object with immiscible incompressible two-phase fluid flow", Engineering Computations, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 709-724. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-01-2016-0016

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited Bingley, United Kingdom

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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