Simulation of viscous flows with undulatory boundaries: Part II. Coupling with other solvers for two-fluid computations

We extend the direct numerical simulation (DNS) capability developed in [D. Yang, L. Shen, Simulation of viscous flows with undulatory boundaries: Part I. Basic solver, J. Comput. Phys. (submitted for publication) ] to the simulation of two-fluid interaction with deformable interface. Two approaches are used to couple the DNS of one fluid with the simulation of another fluid. In the first, the DNS is coupled with a potential-flow based wave solver that uses a high-order spectral (HOS) method. This coupled method is applied to simulate the interaction of turbulent wind with surface waves, including single wave train and broadband wavefield. Validation with previous theoretical and experimental studies shows the accuracy and efficiency of this coupled DNS-HOS method for capturing the essential physics of wind–wave interaction. In the second approach, both of the fluids are simulated by the DNS and are coupled by an efficient iterative scheme, in which the continuity of velocity and the balance of stress are enforced at the interface. The performance of this coupled DNS–DNS method is demonstrated and validated by several test cases including: interfacial wave between two viscous fluids, water surface wave over highly viscous mud flow with interfacial wave, and interaction of two-phase vortex pairs with a deformable interface. Comparison with existing theoretical and numerical results confirms the accuracy of this coupled DNS–DNS method. Finally, this method is applied to study the interaction of air and water turbulence. The nonlinear development of interfacial wave by the excitation of the air and water turbulence, and the wave effect on the instantaneous and statistical characteristics of the turbulence are elucidated.