An integral surface tension scheme for three-dimensional front tracking frameworks

Abstract

Surface tension is central to many two-phase flows, making accurate numerical schemes essential for predicting its effects. The integral formulation introduced by Popinet and Zaleski (1999) provides a natural discretisation that conserves momentum locally and globally and extends directly to variable surface tension, including Marangoni flows. However, to the authors' knowledge, only two-dimensional formulations have been reported, mainly because robust implementation in three dimensions is challenging for interfaces with complex geometries. This work presents the first three-dimensional integral surface tension scheme, implemented within a sharp front-tracking framework. The method is tested for static and translating spherical droplets, oscillating droplets, thermocapillary motion, and rising bubbles. Results are compared with analytical solutions, experimental data, and established approaches, including the continuous surface force (CSF) and smoothing-based methods. The proposed scheme produces spurious velocities comparable to CSF, while providing greater accuracy in all other tests. The largest improvements occur for droplets oscillating at low Ohnesorge numbers, variable-surface-tension flows, and strongly deforming rising bubbles. For a thermocapillary-driven droplet, terminal-velocity errors are reduced by up to five orders of magnitude relative to smoothing-based methods. The predicted steady-state shapes of rising bubbles also agree substantially better with experiments, particularly at low Morton numbers.