Available multiphase solvers

1. InterFoam
1.1 Description:
1. Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids using a VOF (volume of fluid)
phase-fraction based interface capturing approach.
2. The momentum and other fluid properties are of the "mixture" and a single momentum
equation is solved.
3. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected. .
1.2 Applications: simulation of a broken water dam.
1.3 Equations being solved:
In the following equations the subscripts 1 and v denotes liquid and vapor phase respectively
1. Continuity equation

( )

2. Momentum Equation
(

(
)
Fs = Surface Tension Force
Surface tension,

) )

)
( )

( ) = Curvature of the interface

3. Phase Continuity Equation
( )

The necessary compression of the surface is done by introducing an extra artificial

compression term, Ur into the phase continuity equation, given by-

1.4 Extensions: The following extensions solves same basic equations as interFoam, but the
support some extra features.
1. interDyMFoam: Supports mesh motion and mesh topology changes including adaptive
re-meshing.

2. interMixingFoam: Solver for 3 incompressible fluids, two of which are miscible, using a
VOF method to capture the interface.
3. LTSInterFoam: Local time stepping (LTS, steady-state) solver for 2 incompressible,
isothermal immiscible fluids, using a VOF phase fraction based interface capturing
approach.
4. MRFInterFoam: Multiple reference frame solver.
1.5 Similar Solvers:
1.

compressibleMultiphaseInterFoam- It can solve for n compressible, immiscible fluids.

It has an extension MRFMultiphaseInterFoam (Multiple reference frame solver).

2. InterPhaseChangeFoam
2.1 Description:
1. Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids with phase-change (e.g.
cavitation ).
2. It uses VOF phase-fraction based interface capturing approach.
3. The momentum and other fluid properties are of the mixture and a single momentum
equation is solved.
4. The set of phase-change models provided are designed to simulate cavitation but other
mechanisms of phase change are supported within this solver framework.
5. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.
2.2 Applications: Simulation of phase change due to cavitation
2.3 Equations being solved:
In the following equations the subscripts 1 and v denotes liquid and vapor phase respectively.
1. Continuity equation
(

)(

Denotes condensation and

denotes evaporation which are given by
different mass transfer models being used for the simulation. OpenFOAM provides
mass transfer due to cavitation. Three cavitation models are provided by default
given by Kunz, Merkle and Schnerr-Sauer.
2. Momentum equation
( )
(
)
(
[
( ) )]
= Surface Tension Force

(
)
3. Phase continuity equation

( )

The necessary compression of the surface is done by introducing an extra artificial

compression term,
into the phase continuity equation, given by

3. CavitatingFoam
3.1 Description:
1. Transient cavitation based on the homogeneous equilibrium model from which the
compressibility of the liquid/vapor mixture is obtained.
2. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.
3. It is mainly used for cavitation phenomena in a fuel nozzle of an IC engine.
4. Its based on homogeneous mixture model.
3.2 Applications: Simulation of cavitation.
3.3 Equations Being Solved:
In the following equations the subscripts 1 and v denotes liquid and vapor phase respectively
1. Continuity Equation
(

U is the homogeneous mixture velocity

2. Mass fraction of vapor

Liquid density at saturation vapor pressure

Vapor density at saturation vapor pressure
is the mixture density, given by
3. Momentum Equation
(
)
(
)
(
4. Barotropic Equation of state
(
5. Pressure equation
(
)

((

3.4 Extensions: The following extensions solves same basic equations as interFoam, but the
support some extra features.
1. CavitatingDyMFoam- Supports mesh motion and mesh topology changes including
adaptive re-meshing.

4. CompressibleInterFoam
4.1 Description:
1. Solver for 2 compressible, non-isothermal immiscible fluids using a VOF (volume of
fluid) phase-fraction based interface capturing approach.
2. The momentum and other fluid properties are of the "mixture" and a single momentum
equation is solved.
3. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.
4. The solver compressibleInterFoam is based on the solver interFoam and extends it to
account for fluid compressibility effects.
4.2 Application: Simulation of a broken dam considering the compressibility of the air.
4.3 Equations being solved:
In the following equations the subscripts 1 and v denotes liquid and vapor phase respectively
1. Continuity equation
(

2. Momentum Equation
(

)
(

= Surface Tension Force

(
3. Energy Equation
(

4. Phase Continuity Equation

( )
(

[ (

)] (

 = Compressibility of the medium

C = Speed of the sound in the medium
4.4 Extensions: The following extensions solves same basic equations as interFoam, but the
support some extra features.
1. compressibleInterDyMFoam- Supports mesh motion and mesh topology changes
including adaptive re-meshing.
4.5 Similar Solvers:
1. compressibleMultiphaseInterFoam- It can support more than 2 compressible,
immiscible fluids.

5. PotentialFreeSurfaceFoam
5.1 Description:
1. Incompressible Navier-Stokes solver with inclusion of a wave height field to enable
single phase free surface approximation.
2. Wave height field, zeta , used by pressure boundary conditions.
3. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.
4. Its a transient solver.
5.2 Applications: Simulation of waves.
5.3 Equations being solved:
1. Continuity equation:
2. Momentum equation:
(

) )

6. SettlingFoam
6.1 Description:
1. Solver for 2 incompressible fluids for simulating the settlings of the dispersed phase.
2. The momentum and other fluid properties are of the "mixture" and a single momentum
equation is solved.
3. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.

6.2 Applications: Simulation of sludge treatment in a settling tank.

6.3 Equations being solved
In the following equations the subscripts c and d denotes the continuous and the dispersed phase
respectively.
1. Mixture Continuity equation:
(

is the mixture density given by-

is the velocity of center of mass of the mixture given by-

2. Drift equation:
(

( (

))

is the diffusion coefficient which is made equal to molecular and turbulent viscosity.

is the drift velocity of the dispersed phase.

is the diffusion velocity of the dispersed phase.
3. Mixture momentum equation:
(

is the interfacial momentum transfer terms, to couple the two phases together.
are the viscous stress tensor and turbulent viscous stress tensor respectively.

7. TwoLiquidMixingFoam
7.1 Description:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Transient solver for mixing of 2 incompressible fluids.

Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.
Flow is density difference driven.
Its an isothermal solver.

7.2 Applications: Simulation of lock exchange.

7.3 Equations Being Solved:

In the following equations the subscripts
respectively

6. Continuity Equation

and

denotes primary and secondary phase

( )

U is the mixture velocity.

7. Alpha Diffusivity Equation
(

((

D is the molecular diffusivity

is the molecular diffusivity due to turbulence
is the Schmidt number
8. Momentum Equation
(

(
(

8. TwoPhaseEulerFoam
8.1 Description:
1. Transient solver for a system of 2 compressible fluid phases with one phase dispersed
(e.g. gas bubbles in a liquid) including heat transfer.
2. From the version 2.1.x of OpenFOAM, the capability to manage compressible fluid has
been added.
3. The Eulerian approach, considers a solid phase with fluid like behaviors without particle
tracking. This reduces the numerical effort required with a large number of particles. In
this approach, the equations for each phase is considered and solved one by one.
4. Turbulence modeling is generic, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES may be selected.
8.2 Applications: Simulation of bubble Column, Simulation of fluidized bed.
8.3 Equations being solved
In the following equations the subscripts 1 and 2 denotes phase 1 and 2 respectively. Lets say
phase 1 is the solid phase and the phase 2 is the fluid phase.
1. Continuity equations:
(

(
2. Momentum equations:
(
)
(

)
(

i = 1, 2
are the solid shear viscosity and fluid shear viscosity. The fluid phase is assumed
to be a Newtonian fluid. I is the unit tensor of rank 2.
is granular pressure is the
solid bulk velocity. Since it is assumed that the 2 nd phase is fluid, hence these two terms
will be zero in the 2nd momentum equation.
is the possible momentum interactions
between the phases, given by-

3. Energy equations:
(

))

))

))

i=1, 2
are the internal energy, kinetic energy, enthalpy, thermal diffusivity and
heat transfer coefficient respectively.
8.4 Similar Solvers:
1. MultiPhaseEulerFoam: It can solve for more than 3 phases.