A unified SHTC multiphase model of continuum mechanics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive multiphase continuum mechanics model within the SHTC framework, capable of describing multiple phases with different properties and behaviors, and demonstrates its numerical implementation and validation through various benchmarks.

Contribution

It presents a unified SHTC-based multiphase model that encompasses fluids and solids, reformulates it in Baer-Nunziato form, and develops a robust numerical scheme for complex multiphase flows.

Findings

Validated across diverse multiphase benchmarks

Successfully modeled all relaxation limit cases

Demonstrated robustness of the numerical scheme

Abstract

In this paper, we present a unified nonequilibrium model of continuum mechanics for compressible multiphase flows. The model, which is formulated within the framework of Symmetric Hyperbolic Thermodynamically Compatible (SHTC) equations, can describe the arbitrary number of phases that can be heat-conducting inviscid and viscous fluids, as well as elastoplastic solids. The phases are allowed to have different velocities, pressures, temperatures, and shear stresses, while the material interfaces are treated as diffuse interfaces with the volume fraction playing the role of the interface field. To relate our model to other multiphase approaches, we reformulate the SHTC governing equations in terms of the phase state parameters and put them in the form of Baer-Nunziato-type models. It is the Baer-Nunziato form of the SHTC equations which is then solved numerically using a robust second-order path-conservative MUSCL-Hancock finite volume method on Cartesian meshes. Due to the fact that the obtained governing equations are very challenging, we restrict our numerical examples to a simplified version of the model, focusing on the isentropic limit for three-phase mixtures. To address the stiffness properties of the relaxation source terms present in the model, the implemented scheme incorporates a semi-analytical time integration method specifically designed for the non-linear stiff source terms governing the strain relaxation. The validation process involves a wide range of benchmarks and several applications for compressible multiphase problems. Notably, results are presented for multiphase flows in all the relaxation limit cases of the model, including inviscid and viscous Newtonian fluids, as well as non-linear hyperelastic and elastoplastic solids.