A moving Lagrangian interface technique for flow computations over fixed meshes

In this paper, an enhanced finite element formulation for unsteady incompre ssible flows with moving interfaces is presented. The weak form of the Navi er-Stokes equations, written using a generalized streamline operator techni que, is coupled with the movement of the interface between two immiscible f luids defined through an independent moving mesh. The position of the inter face is updated using a Lagrangian formulation. In this framework, a global mass conservation corrector algorithm and an enhanced element integration technique are proposed to improve accuracy. The method is applied to a numb er of test problems with moving interfaces. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.