A level set method for vaporizing two-phase flows

Development and applications of numerical methods devoted to reactive interface simulations are presented. Emphasis is put on vaporization, where numerical difficulties arise in imposing accurate jump conditions for heat and mass transfers. We use both the Level Set Method and the Ghost Fluid Method to capture the interface motion accurately and to handle suitable jump conditions. A local vaporization mass flow rate per unit of surface area is defined and Stefan flow is involved in the process. Specific care has been devoted to the extension of discontinuous variables across the interface to populate ghost cells, in order to avoid parasitic currents and numerical diffusion across the interface. A projection method is set up to impose both the velocity field continuity and a divergence-free condition for the extended velocity field across the interface. The d(2) law is verified in the numerical simulations of the vaporization of an isolated static drop. Results are then presented for a water droplet moving in air. Vapor mass fraction and temperature fields inside and outside the droplet are presented. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.