Assessment of volume of fluid and immersed boundary methods for droplet computations

The volume of fluid (VOF) and immersed boundary (IB) methods are two popular computational techniques for multi-fluid dynamics. To help shed light on the performance of both techniques, we present accuracy assessment, which includes interfacial geometry, detailed and global fluid flow characteristics, and computational robustness. The investigation includes the simulations of a droplet under static equilibrium as a limiting test case and a droplet rising due to gravity for Re ≤ 1000. Surface tension force models are key issues in both VOF and IB and alternative treatments are examined resulting in improved solution accuracy. A refined curvature model for VOF is also presented. With the newly developed interfacial treatments incorporated, both IB and VOF perform comparably well for the droplet dynamics under different flow parameters and fluid properties. © 2004 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd