Date: 30 March 2022 | Speaker: Will Doherty
Multiphase flows are ubiquitous in nature and understanding their dynamics is crucial in many natural and industrial scenarios. The level set method, invented in 1988 by Osher and Sethian provides a way of simulating two-phase flow by implicitly defining an interface as the zero-contour of a signed distance function. We will discuss why it is so beneficial to define fluid interfaces implicitly, how the level-set function is transported in a velocity field and how we can maintain the desirable properties of the signed distance function during advection. We will also describe the application of the level set method to my research area, the modelling of rising gas bubbles in viscoelastic fluids, and the phenomena associated with them. These include the trailing cusp shape, negative wake velocity field and velocity jump discontinuity
