Application of the Level Set Method for Free Surface Modeling

Abstract

Hydraulics usually deals with flows with free surface. When the surface curvature is small, the assumption of hydrostatic pressure distribution is enough. However, in the case, when the curvature is big, the non-hydrostatic pressure distribution should be taken into account and the Navier-Stokes equations should be employed instead of the depth-averaged shallow water equations. For the simulation of two immiscible fluids with different characteristics (e.g. water and air, water and oil), the level set method is selected for this purpose. The developed model is applied to classical dam break problem and the computational results are compared with the experimental data. The effectiveness of the developed model is confirmed.■ keyword :|Hydraulics|Free Surface|Level Set Method|Dam Break|