A mixed finite element solver for liquid-liquid impacts

The impact of a liquid column on a liquid pool has been numerically modeled in this work. The physical quantities of interest have been evaluated in the framework of the potential theory. The numerical method couples a potential flow solver with an ordinary differential equation (ODE) solver. The potential flow solver is an implementation of a Mixed Finite Element method (MFE). A second order Crank-Nicholson scheme is used as ODE solver. The MFE solver turns out to be second order accurate for both the potential and the flow field and this is the main advantage as compared, for example, to a corresponding finite volume scheme. The method has been used for 2--D unsteady simulations of liquid--liquid impacts.