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High-fidelity simulations of bubble, droplet and spray formation in breaking waves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2016

Zhaoyuan Wang ,
Jianming Yang  and
Frederick Stern
Zhaoyuan Wang
Affiliation:
IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Jianming Yang
Affiliation:
IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Frederick Stern*
Affiliation:
IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: frederick-stern@uiowa.edu
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Abstract

High-fidelity simulations of wave breaking processes are performed with a focus on the small-scale structures of breaking waves, such as bubble/droplet size distributions. Very large grids (up to 12 billion grid points) are used in order to resolve the bubbles/droplets in breaking waves at the scale of hundreds of micrometres. Wave breaking processes and spanwise three-dimensional interface structures are identified. It is speculated that the Görtler type centrifugal instability is likely more relevant to the plunging wave breaking instabilities. Detailed air entrainment and spray formation processes are shown. The bubble size distribution shows power-law scaling with two different slopes which are separated by the Hinze scale. The droplet size distribution also shows power-law scaling. The computational results compare well with the available experimental and computational data in the literature. Computational difficulties and challenges for large grid simulations are addressed.

JFM classification

Mathematical Foundations: Computational methods Drops and Bubbles: Drops and Bubbles Waves/Free-surface Flows: Wave breaking
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 792 , 10 April 2016 , pp. 307 - 327
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Copyright
© 2016 Cambridge University Press 

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Wang et al. supplementary movie

Simulation of Stokes wave breaking process using 3.2 billion grid points.

Download Wang et al. supplementary movie(Video)
Video 10.7 MB

Wang et al. supplementary movie

Simulation of Stokes wave breaking process using 3.2 billion grid points.

Download Wang et al. supplementary movie(Video)
Video 4 MB