Application of a Fully Coupled Mesh Deformation Algorithm to Free Boundary Problems

Philip A. Sackinger
Sandia National Laboratory
Fluid & Thermal Science Department
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Many free and moving boundary problems may be attacked effectively using an implicit or fully-coupled approach, where the locations of the unknown boundaries are determined simultaneously with the values of unknown field variables on the computational domain using Newton's method. This implicit approach has been extended to unstructured finite element meshes using the concept of a fictitious solid continuum into which the mesh is embedded. The purpose of the pseudosolid material is to handle internal deformations of the mesh that are required to match the relevant physics that govern the boundary. Problems of solidification and of capillary hydrodynamics served as examples to illustrate the power of this technique.