A vortex level set method for the two-way coupling of an incompressible fluid with colliding rigid bodies

We present a vortex method for the simulation of the interaction of an incompressible flow with rigid bodies. The method is based on a penalization technique where the system is considered as a single flow, Subject to the Navier-Stokes equation with a penalization term that enforces continuity at the solid-fluid interface and rigid motion inside the solid. Level set functions are used to capture interfaces, compute rigid motions inside the solid bodies and model collisions between bodies. A vortex in cell algorithm is built on this method. Numerical comparisons with existing 3D methods on problems of sedimentation and collision of spheres are provided to illustrate the capabilities of the method. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.