International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids

An adaptive technique, based on both surface stretching and surface curvature analysis for tracking strongly deforming fluid volumes in three-dimensional flows is presented. The efficiency and accuracy of the technique are demonstrated for twoand three-dimensional flow simulations. For the twodimensional test example, the results are compared with results obtained using a different tracking approach based on the advection of a passive scalar. Although for both techniques roughly the same structures are found, the resolution for the front tracking technique is much higher. In the threedimensional test example, a spherical blob is tracked in a chaotic mixing flow. For this problem, the accuracy of the adaptive tracking is demonstrated by the volume conservation for the advected blob. Adaptive front tracking is suitable for simulation of the initial stages of fluid mixing, where the interfacial area can grow exponentially with time. The efficiency of the algorithm significantly benefits from parallelization of the code. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.