Numerical simulation of drop impact on a liquid–liquid interface with a multiple marker front-capturing method

The gravity-driven motion of a droplet impacting on a liquid–liquid interface is studied. The full Navier–Stokes equations are solved on a fixed, uniform grid using a finite difference/front-capturing method. For the representation of fluid–fluid interfaces, a coupled Level-Set/Volume-Of-Fluid method [M. Sussman, E.G. Puckett, A coupled Level-Set and Volume-of-Fluid method for computing 3D and axisymmetric incompressible two-phase flows, J. Comp. Phys. 162 (2000) 301–337] is used, in which we introduce the novel approach of describing separate interfaces with different marker functions. As a consequence, we prevent numerical coalescence of the droplet and the liquid–liquid interface without excessive (local) grid refinement. To validate our method, numerical simulations of the drop impact event are compared with experiments [Z. Mohamed-Kassim, E.K. Longmire, Drop impact on a liquid–liquid interface, Phys. Fluids 15 (2003) 3263–3273]. Furthermore, a comparison is made with the numerical results of [A. Esmaeeli, G. Tryggvason, Direct numerical simulations of bubbly flows. Part 2. Moderate Reynolds number arrays, J. Fluid Mech. 385 (1999) 325–358] for an array of rising bubbles. The investigation shows that the multiple marker approach successfully prevents numerical coalescence of interfaces and adequately captures the effect of surface tension.