An adaptive front tracking technique for dimensional transient flows

An adaptive technique, based on both surface stretching and surface curvature analysis, for tracking strongly deforming fluidvolumes in three-dimensional flows is presented. Efficiency and accuracy of the technique is demonstrated for two- andthree-dimensional flow simulations. For the two-dimensional test example the results are compared with results obtained using adifferent tracking approach based on the advection of a passive scalar. Although for both techniques roughly the same structures arefound, the resolution for the front tracking technique is much higher. In the three-dimensional test example a spherical blob istracked in a chaotic mixing flow. For this problem the accuracy of the adaptive tracking is demonstrated by the volume conservationfor the advected blob. Adaptive front tracking turns suitable for simulatio! n of the initial stages of fluid mixing, where the interfacialarea can grow exponentially with time. The efficiency of the algorithm significantly benefits from parallelization of the code.