Numerical simulation of wave impacts with interfacial phase change: An interface reconstruction scheme

Abstract Most current numerical simulations on sloshing impact loads do not take into account the possibility of evaporation and condensation of the fluid. Our goal is to develop a numerical model able to simulate a wave impact with phase change in order to evaluate the influence of phase change on sloshing impact loads. The proposed model describes compressible multiphase flows with separate phases and non-equilibrium interfacial phase change. In this paper, the liquid–vapor interface is discretized using the interface reconstruction scheme of Braeunig et al., 2009. Implementation of a phase change model in such a framework is presented. In particular, the agreement of the model with the Second Law of Thermodynamics is discussed. The discretized model is first tested using simple return to equilibrium test cases. Then the model is applied to the one-dimensional piston problem that models the behavior of a compressed gas pocket during a breaking wave impact.