Title: Applications of level set method in computational fluid dynamics: a review

Authors: Hongwei Ning; Shizhi Qian; Teng Zhou

Addresses: College of Information and Network Engineering, Anhui Science and Technology University, Bengbu 233030, Anhui, China ' Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA ' Mechanical and Electrical Engineering College, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, Hainan, China

Abstract: Tracking of free interfaces in two-phase and multi-phase fluids is a critical step in computational fluid dynamics. Among the many methods, because of no need for parameterisation of curves and an excellent solution to the problem of evolutionary curve topology change, the level set method (LSM) is widely used in the field and has achieved good results. The paper reviews applications of LSM in the tracking of free interfaces, including theory fundamental, solving the basic partial differential equation used to represent fluids in LSM, free interfaces tracking of two-phase fluids, interfaces evolutions of multi-phase fluids, and coupling with other methods to increase tracking performance. Based on the summaries, we confirm the level set method has achieved excellent results in fluid interface tracking either alone or coupled with other algorithms. Of course, the level set method requires further optimisation in terms of initialisation and mass conservation.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; CFD; curve evolution; interface capture; level set method; LSM; implicit representation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHM.2023.129126

International Journal of Hydromechatronics, 2023 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 33

Received: 31 Mar 2022
Accepted: 21 May 2022
Published online: 21 Feb 2023 *