Spurious currents using interFoam (OF 1.6)
 

Dear Foamers,

I did some simple tests with interFoam (OF 1.6) on a fluid resting in a half filled squared box (2D) with gravity acting normal to the surface and found that spurious currents are appearing in the 2nd phase (air) after a while. The case is very similar to the damBreak tutorial: The mesh is somewhat simpler as it is only a square and it is filled from left to right wall. The surface tension is set to zero. Fluid properties & BC are the same as they are in the damBreak tutorial.

The magnitude of the spurious currents is much higher when I use a mesh with hex-cells with dy/dx=2 and is much lower when dy/dx=0.5 (dx is the cell width, dy is the cell height - parallel to the gravity vector).

Can some please explain this to me or give me a link to a post where this was already discussed. I did not find anything. Thank you.

Peter

correction
 

Sorry, I mixed it up. The magnitude of the spurious currents is much higher when I use a mesh with hex-cells with dy/dx=0.5 (horizontally extended hex cells) and is much lower when dy/dx=2 (vertically extended hex cells). However, the problem remains.

This forum has a search function. Search for "spurious currents" and read the thread "About interFoam solver".

This problem is mentioned every few weeks. I think here is the last one:
http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/ope...ht=atmospheric

I don't know if your mesh dimensions are relevant for the problem. InterFoam seems to be broken for every case like this. If you could upload your simple tests, this will help to discuss the failure.

Paul