Three-dimensional finite element analysis of transient fluid flow with free-surface using marker surface method and adaptive grid refinement

For three-dimensional finite element analysis of transient fluid flow with free-surface, a new marker surface method is proposed, in which the fluid f low is represented by the marker surface composed of marker elements instea d of marker particles used in the marker particle method. This also involve s an adaptive grid that is created under a new criterion of element categor ization of filling states and the locations in the total region at each tim e step. The marker surface is used in order to represent the free-surface a ccurately, as well as to decrease the memory and computation time, and to e ffectively display the predicted three-dimensional free-surface. By using t he adaptive grid in which the elements, finer than those in internal and ex ternal regions, are distributed in the surface region through refinement an d coarsening procedures, the analysis of three-dimensional transient fluid flow with free-surface is achieved more efficiently. Through three-dimensio nal analysis of two kinds of problems using several grids, the efficiency o f the proposed marker surface method and the adaptive grid are verified. Co pyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.