Oil Jet Impact on a Water Tank: Three-Phase

Oil Jet Impact on the Water Tank (Three Phases), ANSYS Fluent Simulation Training

Description

This project simulates the impact of an oil jet on a water tank using ANSYS Fluent, modeling a system of three distinct fluids: air as the primary phase, along with liquid water and oil as secondary phases. The Eulerian multiphase model was used to capture the interaction between these three phases, with oil entering the domain at 8 m/s and gravity included at -9.81 m/s² along the y-axis.

The 2D domain was designed in SpaceClaim, featuring a jet inlet, side boundaries defined as outlets, and the pipe side treated as a wall boundary. The domain was meshed in ANSYS Meshing using a structured grid totaling approximately 21,000 cells.

Methodology

The simulation used a 2D turbulent multiphase setup, applying the Multi-Fluid VOF (Eulerian-based) approach to capture the interaction between the three immiscible phases — oil, water, and air. Boundary conditions included the oil jet inlet, a pressure outlet, and no-slip wall boundaries throughout. A transient solver with fine time steps was used to accurately resolve the deforming interface and the dynamic behavior of the impinging jet as it strikes the water surface.

Conclusion

Results include 2D animations and contours of velocity, along with air and water volume fraction throughout the domain. The simulation begins with a domain containing only liquid water and air; as the oil jet enters and travels toward the water surface, the impact reveals the immiscibility of oil and water — rather than mixing, the oil pushes the water aside, displacing and splitting it, and generating a vortex at the point of impact.

This simulation offers a clear illustration of how three heterogeneous, immiscible fluids interact within a single domain, capturing the resulting displacement and vortex formation that occurs when an oil jet strikes a water surface.