Three-dimensional numerical simulation of violent free surface deformation based on a coupled level set and volume of fluid method

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of the coupled level set and volume of fluid (CLSVOF) method to reproduce violent three-dimensional (3D) free surface deformation induced by different types of dambreak problems. A 3D CLSVOF-based numerical solver is developed, and the finite difference method is adopted to discretize the fluid domain. By applying these methods, the VOF advection equation is solved under the tangent of hyperbola framework to capture the interactions with the weighted linear interface calculation scheme (THINC/WLIC). The OCRWENO scheme is employed to accurately handle the LS advection equation, and the Navier–Stokes equations are discretized by a projection method. For dealing with fluid–structure interactions, the direct forcing immersed boundary method is employed. The developed numerical solver is applied to model free surface evolution in a variety of dambreak experiments. Good agreement is obtained between the numerical simulation and experimental results for each case, thus proving the suitability of the proposed numerical approach for the simulation of violent free surface deformation. The numerical solver developed in this paper has potential for reproducing strongly nonlinear free surface phenomena in other ocean engineering applications.