What is alpha1 in interDyMFoam
 

Im trying to simulate the linear motion of an object using interDyMFoam and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what alpha1 actually does. Ive looked through multiple source codes and still cannot figue out what it does.

Hello physics1
I'm not sure, but I thought in "system/setFieldsDict" you defined where one of the phases (alpha1) is and in "0/alpha1" vou defined the BC.

Is this the alpha1 you meant?

alpha1 is the variable defining how much of phase 1 (alpha1) and how much of phase 2 (1-alpha1) is inside a cell. Take a look at the volume of fluid method described by

Hirt, C., Nichols, B., 1981. Volume of fluid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries1. Journal of Computational Physics 39, 201–225.


This will give a better idea of what alpha1 is.