A model for surface tension in the meshless finite volume particle method without spurious velocity

Abstract

A surface tension model has been developed in the finite volume particle method (FVPM). FVPM is a conservative, consistent, meshless particle method that incorporates properties of both smoothed particle hydrodynamics and the mesh-based finite volume method. Surface tension force is applied only on free-surface particles, which are inexpensively and robustly detected using the FVPM definition of interparticle area, analogous to cell face area in the finite volume method. We present a model in which the direction of the pairwise surface tension force is approximated by the common tangent of free-surface particle supports. The new surface tension model is implemented in 2D. The method is validated for formation of an equilibrium viscous drop from square and elliptical initial states, drops on hydrophobic and hydrophilic walls, droplet collision, and impact of a small cylinder on a liquid surface. Results are practically free from parasitic current associated with inaccurate curvature determination in some methods. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.