Development of a phase change model for volume-of-fluid method in OpenFOAM

Abstract

In this present study, volume of fluid method in OpenFOAM open source CFD package will be extended to consider phase change phenomena with modified model due to condensation and boiling processes. This model is suitable for the case in which both unsaturated phase and saturated phase are present and for beginning boiling and condensation process needn't initial interface. Both phases (liquid-vapor) are incompressible and immiscible. Interface between two phases is tracked with color function volume of fluid (CF-VOF) method. Surface Tension is taken into consideration by Continuous Surface Force (CSF) model. Pressure-Velocity coupling will be solved with PISO algorithm in the collocated grid. The accuracy of this phase-change model is verified by two evaporation problems (a one-dimensional Stefan problem and a two-dimensional film boiling problem) and two condensation problem (a one-dimensional Stefan problem and Filmwise condensation). The simulation results of this model show good agreement with the classical analytical or numerical results, proving its accuracy and feasibility.

Keywords

• phase change model
• volume-of-fluid
• boiling
• condensation
• openfoam