This talk focuses on the motion of a mixture of two immiscible incompressible fluids in a domain with open boundaries. The domain boundary is open in the sense that the fluids can freely leave or even enter the domain through such boundaries. In particular, we concentrate on situations where the interface formed between the two fluids passes through the open portions of the domain boundary. The problem therefore involves truly two-phase outflow/open boundaries.

 

The challenge facing the design of effective techniques for treating two-phase outflows in numerical simulations is manyfold. Some of the primary issues are associated with the viscosity contrasts, density contrasts, surface tension, and the presence of fluid interface, backflows or strong vortices on the open boundaries. Large density ratios and large viscosity ratios of the two fluids make two-phase outflow simulations tremendously challenging.

 

In this talk we present a set of boundary conditions, and an associated numerical algorithm, for two-phase outflow simulations within the phase field framework. These open boundary conditions have the characteristic that they all ensure the energy stability of the two-phase system, even in situations where strong vortices, backflows, large density contrast and large viscosity contrast are present at the open boundaries. We show the physical accuracy of the method by comparing simulation results with the theory and experimental data. Numerical experiments will be presented to demonstrate the long-term stability of the method in situations where large density contrast, large viscosity contrast, and backflows are present at the outflow/open boundaries.