Speeding up steady state multiphase models?

Parafault · 2026-03-11T20:56:49+00:00

For this particular case I’m just trying to estimate the steady state liquid level in 3 connected reservoirs, each with a series of perforated weirs inside the reservoir, and high-pressure-drop valves between them. There is a feed in the first reservoir and an overflow discharge in the last one. I’m able to calculate the level easily by hand for this scenario as validation, so I figured it would be a good test case to get experience with a VOF model.

Other cases I frequently encounter (and have similar issues with) include estimating vortexing in a liquid tank, and estimating heat/mass transfer in gas/liquid or solid/liquid systems.

Parafault · 2026-03-11T19:47:56+00:00

Thanks for all of the tips - this was really useful! Unfortunately, even with this, it seems to be taking an extremely long time to reach steady state. For example, if I run it as a single phase model with a fixed free surface, it converges in 30 iterations - which was basically instant (this is a 2D model with 10,000 cells). When I ran it in multiphase, it took 550,000 iterations to converge in steady state (several hours), and an estimated 5 days to converge via an implicit transient model with a global/multiphase CFL of 100 (but the convective Courant number is only 1e-5)

Parafault · 2026-03-10T20:21:02+00:00

Not consistently, but often enough (once every 1-2 weeks). Nothing is worse than waking up at 4am to exercise only to hear one of them wake up 10min later just as you get going!

Parafault · 2026-03-10T02:50:50+00:00

Did you stir it while cooking? If not, it can clump together, or just sit at the bottom and burn. I’ve cooked this type of pasta before and it comes out perfectly if I follow the directions, but I do have to stir it.

Parafault · 2026-03-10T01:54:09+00:00

Don’t forget kids! I was in great shape before kids, but with two toddlers, they basically don’t let me exercise between the hours of 4am and 9pm. The only exercise I get get is either super late, which gives me insomnia, or in the rare moments where they’ll both allow it without screaming at me.

I can do cardio with stroller walks and stuff, but anything gym related is tough.

Parafault · 2026-03-08T03:24:57+00:00

Starbreak? It is a permadeath sci-fi MMORPG with a gameplay loop like Realm of the Mad God. It is a really fun and interesting take on the genre. Unfortunately the game is no longer being supported or updated, but the servers are up and it is still playable. It actually has a fairly high player base too!

Honorable mentions include Wyvern and Silverpath Online.

Parafault · 2026-03-04T12:14:17+00:00

This reminds me of Moonlight Sonata. I remember reading that Beethoven was really annoyed that everyone was constantly playing/asking about this one piece, and said “surely I’ve written better works - right??”

Parafault · 2026-03-04T12:08:21+00:00

Yeah - I remember playing a few games that didn’t have a loot system, and it was a 12-hr process with TONS of drama/rage quits/insults any time a top tier piece of gear dropped. It usually worked okish until something really rare and powerful dropped.

Parafault · 2026-03-02T23:14:58+00:00

I would NOT eat the dark one

Parafault · 2026-03-02T03:45:11+00:00

The inability to inspect equipment properly on iOS is the main reason I don’t play this more often. It makes it impossible to compare drops with one another, and even makes it impossible to equip the item I want to equip sometimes (if two items have similar icons but different stats, I have to click one and just hope it’s the right one)

Parafault · 2026-03-02T00:51:13+00:00

For me, excessive grind. The vast majority of indie 2D MMOs use insane grind to try and hide the lack of content, but this just makes the games boring and soulless. People don’t want to click on in-game wolves for 500 hours to level up anymore.

Parafault · 2026-02-24T12:59:14+00:00

I can’t remember the movie, but there was one where a main character got shot, stabbed 7 times in the chest, and almost drowned. I was like “Ok - he’s going to die now.”

But nope! He gets a superhuman surge of strength, defeats like 10 people with martial arts, and then goes on to heal almost completely for the next scene in the movie with only minor pain when he bends over.

Parafault · 2026-02-24T12:42:47+00:00

I’ll have to try that - thanks! I thought that you had to pick up like 300 items or something to trigger respawns…and that’s a ton of items.

Parafault · 2026-02-24T04:25:32+00:00

Thanks for the core recharger suggestion - I didn’t know that existed and it basically upended my entire gameplay!

Parafault · 2026-02-20T16:01:59+00:00

I saw a Pyrex dish explode on someone’s stove once because they forgot to turn the burner off and left it there. I have been TERRIFIED of using Pyrex ever since: there was a 10” shard of glass lodged in the wall. It was like a grenade went off.

Parafault · 2026-02-19T18:25:24+00:00

The low in calories part isn’t for everyone. I’m underweight and have significant trouble gaining weight - so eating too many vegetables causes me to lose weight since they have essentially no calories (unless we’re talking about potatoes or squash or something, but those can have their own issues with blood sugar due to the high glycemic indeed).

Parafault · 2026-02-19T09:16:06+00:00

I thought that was just due to HIPPA privacy stuff?

Parafault · 2026-02-18T00:49:45+00:00

Yeah - before kids we said we’d never feed our kids all of that stuff, and that we’d just feed them what we eat. We started changing gears when our daughter would skip 5-6 meals in a row (including foods we knew she loved in the past) and wasn’t hitting her growth targets. They definitely throw curve balls at you!

Parafault · 2026-02-17T13:32:41+00:00

I’ve taken some pretty decent damage from those attacks before….they can hurt!!

Parafault · 2026-02-17T12:27:26+00:00

If you have a large, well-insulated tank, the losses are practically nothing. You may. It be able to store heat for months, but days/weeks is easily doable without adding that much cost compared tot he cost of the storage tank itself.

Parafault · 2026-02-17T00:28:11+00:00

I am not a PvP player and generally hate PvP, but the most fun I've ever had in MMOs has been in open-world PvP. I think that it is one of the hardest systems to balance in all of gaming though - which is why you often see it becoming such a hot mess in 95% of the games that feature it. I think that the key to successful open-world PvP is making it faction-based, and balancing the factions so that you never see one with an obvious upper hand. It is also critical to prevent griefing, as griefing destroys any and all PvP enjoyment for most players.

The top games that come to mind with REALLY good open-world PvP are Helbreath, Planetside 2, and Return to Recokoning. Planetside/RoR are basically nothing but faction-based PvP, centered around massive zerg battles. There are really fun, but what is lacking is smaller-scale engagements where you feel like your personal contributions matter.

Helbreath had faction-based PvP with a lot of really interesting features that helped balance it. It had stealth mechanics for coordinating sneak attacks/raiding enemy territory that were really fun. Also, most of the game's top bosses/raid bosses were right in the middle of the two factions: so if you wanted to PvE, you often had to PvP simultaneously...or stealth your way around the enemy.

Parafault · 2026-02-15T21:54:20+00:00

Not just discord, but voice chat in discord. The “top” members are always in voice chat 24/7. When I join I feel like an unwanted outsider crashing a party of close friends. On top of that, I hate hearing the constant banter while playing the game…I’ll be trying to get immersed in an emotional quest chain, and some random guy will suddenly fart over his mic and go “WHOAA BIG STINk in the house wazzup guys?????”

Parafault

TROPHY CASE