A robust scheme for numerical simulation of heat transfer in two-fluid flows with high volumetric heat capacity contrasts

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a new method for robust simulations of passive heat transfer in two-fluid flows with high volumetric heat capacity contrasts.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper implements a prediction–correction scheme to evolve the volumetric heat capacity. In the prediction substep, the volumetric heat capacity is evolved together with the temperature. The bounded downwind version of compressive interface capturing scheme for arbitrary meshes and central difference scheme are used for the spatial discretization of the advection and diffusion terms of the heat transfer equation, respectively. In the correction substep, the volumetric heat capacity is updated in accordance with the interface captured by using a coupled level-set and volume-of-fluid method to capture the interface dynamics precisely.

Findings

The proposed method is verified by simulating the advection of a hot droplet with high volumetric heat capacity, a stationary air–water tank with temperature variation between top and bottom walls and heat transfer during wave plunging at Re=108. The test results show that the proposed method is practical and accurate for simulating two-fluid heat transfer problems, especially for those feature high volumetric heat capacity contrasts.

Originality/value

To ensure the numerical stability, this paper solves an additional conservative form of volumetric heat capacity equation along with the conservative form of temperature equation by using consistent spatial-discretization and temporal-integration schemes.

Citation

Lu, M., Yang, Z. and He, G. (2023), "A robust scheme for numerical simulation of heat transfer in two-fluid flows with high volumetric heat capacity contrasts", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 570-590. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-05-2022-0296