Three-dimensional coupled numerical model of creeping flow of viscous fluid

A three-dimensional coupled numerical model is developed to describe creeping flow in a computational domain that consists of a thick viscous layer overlaid with a thin multilayered viscous sheet. The density of the sheet is assumed to be lower than that of the layer. The model couples the Stokes equations describing the flow in the layer and the Reynolds equations describing the flow in the sheet. We investigate the long-time behavior of the flow in the sheet by using an asymptotic method and derive an ordinary differential equation for the sheet boundary displacements and the velocities at the interface between the sheet and the layer. The Stokes and Reynolds equations are coupled by applying the resulting equation as an internal boundary condition. Numerical implementation is based on a modified finite element method combined with the projection gradient method. The computational domain is discretized into rectangular hexahedra. Piecewise square basis functions are used. The model proposed enables different-type hydrodynamic equations to be coupled without any iterative improvements. As a result, the computational costs are reduced significantly in comparison with available coupled models. Numerical experiments confirm that the three-dimensional coupled model developed is of good accuracy.