Finite element analysis of transient fluid flow with free surface using VOF (volume-of-fluid) method and adaptive grid

SUMMARY The VOF method is adopted for the finite element analysis of transient fluid flow with a free surface. In particular, an adaptation technique for generating an adaptive grid is incorporated to capture a higher resolution of the free surface configuration. An adaptive grid is created through the refinement and mergence of elements. In this domain the elements in the surface region are made finer than those in the remaining regions for more efficient computation. Also, three techniques based on the VOF method are newly developed to increase the accuracy of the analysis, namely the filling pattern, advection treatment and free surface smoothing techniques. Using the proposed numerical techniques, radial flow with a point source and the collapse of a dam are analysed. The numerical results agree well with the theoretical solutions as well as with the experimental results. Through comparisons with the numerical results of several cases using different grids, the efficiency of the proposed technique is verified. # 1998 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.