Interface-fitted Simulation of Multi-Material Sheath Flow using MDG-ICE

We apply the moving discontinuous Galerkin method with interface condition enforcement (MDG-ICE) to the simulation of a discrete multi-material deposition system (i.e., 3D printing) in which microfluidically-generated sheath flow acts as a “virtual nozzle” that can be used to reshape and focus the core stream to sizes significantly below the physical dimensions of the solid nozzle. This approach for material delivery has the ability to overcome limitations in resolution and material properties experienced by traditional nozzles. While MDG-ICE has so far been applied primarily to compressible, shocked flows, this work demonstrates the ability of MDG-ICE to detect and track material interfaces in the context of incompressible flow. This approach avoids relying on interface capturing, thus extending the benefits of MDG-ICE for achieving high-order accuracy in the presence of interfaces to the incompressible regime, while avoiding the need for re-map or mixed zones that can arise using arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian methods. Results from canonical 2D sheath flow simulations demonstrate the ability of the approach to predict the flow field and scalar transport accurately even on very coarse grids.