A unified algorithm for interfacial flows with incompressible and compressible fluids

Abstract

The majority of available numerical algorithms for interfacial two-phase flows either treat both fluid phases as incompressible (constant density) or treat both phases as compressible (variable density). This presents a limitation for the prediction of many two-phase flows, such as subsonic fuel injection, as treating both phases as compressible is computationally expensive due to the very stiff pressure-density-temperature coupling of liquids. A framework with the capability of treating one phase compressible and the other phase incompressible, therefore, has a significant potential to improve the computational performance and still capture all important physical mechanisms. We propose a numerical algorithm that can simulate interfacial flows in all Mach number regimes, ranging from M = 0 to M > 1, including interfacial flows in which compressible and incompressible fluids interact, within the same pressure-based framework and conservative finite-volume discretisation. For interfacial flows with only incompressible fluids or with only compressible fluids, the proposed pressure-based algorithm and finite-volume discretisation reduce to numerical frameworks that have already been presented in the literature. Representative test cases are used to validate the proposed algorithm, including mixed compressible-incompressible interfacial flows with acoustic waves, shock waves and rarefaction fans.