The TRR 181 seminar is held by Malte Loft (TU Hamburg) on April 20, Bundesstr. 53 20146 Hamburg, room 22/23.

Two-Phase Flow Simulations of Surface Waves in Wind-Forced Conditions

Abstract

The talk is devoted to two-phase flow simulations and presents the ability of a diffusive interface Cahn-Hilliard Volume-of-Fluid model to capture the dynamics of the air-sea interface at geophysically relevant Reynolds numbers. A hybrid filtered/averaging Improved Detached Eddy Simulation method is employed to model turbulence, and a continuum model is utilized to account for surface tension if the diffuse interface is under-resolved by the grid. A numerical wind-wave tank will be introduced to limit computational costs and results obtained for two known wind-wave conditions are analyzed in comparison to experimental data at matched Reynolds numbers. The focus of the comparison is on both time-averaged and wave-coherent quantities, and includes pressure, velocity as well as modeled and resolved Reynolds stresses. In general, numerical predictions agree well with the experimental measurements and reproduce many wave-dependent flow features. It can be concluded that the diffusive interface approach proves to be a promising method for future studies of air-sea interface dynamics in geophysically relevant flows.