Method for taking into account gravity in free-surface flow simulation

Abstract

A numerical algorithm that correctly takes into account the force of gravity in the presence of density discontinuities is constructed using unstructured collocated grids and splitting algorithms based on SIMPLE-type methods. A correct hydrostatic pressure field is obtained by explicitly extracting the gravity force contribution to the pressure equation and computing it using the solution of the gravity equilibrium problem for a two-phase medium. To ensure that the force of gravity is balanced by the pressure gradient in the case of a medium at rest, an algorithm is proposed according to which the pressure gradient in the equations of motion is replaced by a modification allowing for the force of gravity. Well-known free-surface problems are used to show that, in contrast to previously known algorithms, the proposed ones on unstructured meshes correctly predict hydrostatic pressure fields and do not yield velocity oscillations or free-surface distortions.