A multiblock operator‐splitting algorithm for unsteady flows at all speeds in complex geometries

This paper describes a non‐iterative operator‐splitting algorithm for computing all‐speed flows in complex geometries. A pressure‐based algorithm is adopted as the base, in which pressure, instead of density, is a primary variable, thus allowing for a unified formulation for all Mach numbers. The focus is on adapting the method for (a) flows at all speeds, and (b) multiblock, non‐orthogonal, body‐fitted grids for very complex geometries. Key features of the formulation include special treatment of mass fluxes at control volume interfaces to avoid pressure–velocity decoupling for incompressible (low Mach number limit) flows and to provide robust pressure–velocity–density coupling for compressible (high‐speed) flows. The method is shown to be robust for all Mach number regimes for both steady and unsteady flows; it is found to be stable for CFL numbers of order ten, allowing large time steps to be taken for steady flows. Enhancements to the method which allow for stable solutions to be obtained on non‐orthogonal grids are also discussed. The method is found to be very reliable even in complex engineering applications such as unsteady rotor–stator interactions in turbulent, all‐speed turbomachinery flows. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Mach‐uniform preconditioner for incompressible and subsonic flows

In this study, a novel Mach‐uniform preconditioning method is developed for the solution of Euler equations at low subsonic and incompressible flow conditions. In contrast to the methods developed earlier in which the conservation of mass equation is preconditioned, in the present method, the conservation of energy equation is preconditioned, which enforces the divergence free constraint on the velocity field even at the limiting case of incompressible, zero Mach number flows. Despite most preconditioners, the proposed Mach‐uniform preconditioning method does not have a singularity point at zero Mach number. The preconditioned system of equations preserves the strong conservation form of Euler equations for compressible flows and recovers the artificial compressibility equations in the case of zero Mach number. A two‐dimensional Euler solver is developed for validation and performance evaluation of the present formulation for a wide range of Mach number flows. The validation cases studied show the convergence acceleration, stability, and accuracy of the present Mach‐uniform preconditioner in comparison to the non‐preconditioned compressible flow solutions. The convergence acceleration obtained with the present formulation is similar to those of the well‐known preconditioned system of equations for low subsonic flows and to those of the artificial compressibility method for incompressible flows. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐order discontinuous Galerkin method for all‐speed flows

In this article, we present a discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of steady solutions of the compressible fully coupled Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes and k ? ω turbulence model equations for solving all‐speed flows. The system of equations is iterated to steady state by means of an implicit scheme. The DG solution is extended to the incompressible limit by implementing a low Mach number preconditioning technique. A full preconditioning approach is adopted, which modifies both the unsteady terms of the governing equations and the dissipative term of the numerical flux function by means of a new preconditioner, on the basis of a modified version of Turkel's preconditioning matrix. At sonic speed the preconditioner reduces to the identity matrix thus recovering the non‐preconditioned DG discretization. An artificial viscosity term is added to the DG discretized equations to stabilize the solution in the presence of shocks when piecewise approximations of order of accuracy higher than 1 are used. Moreover, several rescaling techniques are implemented in order to overcome ill‐conditioning problems that, in addition to the low Mach number stiffness, can limit the performance of the flow solver. These approaches, through a proper manipulation of the governing equations, reduce unbalances between residuals as a result of the dependence on the size of elements in the computational mesh and because of the inherent differences between turbulent and mean‐flow variables, influencing both the evolution of the Courant Friedrichs Lewy (CFL) number and the inexact solution of the linear systems. The performance of the method is demonstrated by solving three turbulent aerodynamic test cases: the flat plate, the L1T2 high‐lift configuration and the RAE2822 airfoil (Case 9). The computations are performed at different Mach numbers using various degrees of polynomial approximations to analyze the influence of the proposed numerical strategies on the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of a high‐order DG solver at different flow regimes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On nonlinear preconditioners in Newton–Krylov methods for unsteady flows

The application of nonlinear schemes like dual time stepping as preconditioners in matrix‐free Newton–Krylov‐solvers is considered and analyzed, with a special emphasis on unsteady viscous flows. We provide a novel formulation of the left preconditioned operator that says it is in fact linear in the matrix‐free sense, but changes the Newton scheme. This allows to get some insight in the convergence properties of these schemes, which is demonstrated through numerical results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High‐order strand grid methods for low‐speed and incompressible flows

A novel high‐order finite volume scheme using flux correction methods in conjunction with structured finite differences is extended to low Mach and incompressible flows on strand grids. Flux correction achieves a high order by explicitly canceling low‐order truncation error terms across finite volume faces and is applied in unstructured layers of the strand grid. The layers are then coupled together using a source term containing summation‐by‐parts finite differences in the strand direction. A preconditioner is employed to extend the method to low speed and incompressible flows. We further extend the method to turbulent flows with the Spalart–Allmaras model. Laminar flow test cases indicate improvements in accuracy and convergence using the high‐order preconditioned method, while turbulent body‐of‐revolution flow results show improvements in only some cases, perhaps because of dominant errors arising from the turbulence model itself. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convergence of steady and unsteady formulations for inviscid hovering rotor solutions

An upwind Euler solver is presented, and applied to multibladed lifting hovering rotor flow. These flows can be simulated as a steady case, in a blade‐fixed rotating co‐ordinate system. However, forward flight simulation will always require an unsteady solution. Hence, as a stepping stone in the development of a forward flight simulation tool, both explicit steady and implicit unsteady simulations of the same hovering case are presented. Convergence of the two approaches is examined and compared, in terms of residual history, cost, and solution evolution, as a means of both validating the unsteady formulation and considering implications for forward flight simulation. Consideration of the solution evolution and wake capturing shows that for hovering rotor cases, the unsteady and steady solutions are the same, but the unsteady solution is more expensive in terms of CPU time. It is also shown that for hover, the fewer real time‐steps taken per revolution the more efficient the implicit scheme is. However, this is a characteristic of the case, which results in smooth solution variation between time steps. It is also demonstrated that for rotary flow simulation, the global residual is not a useful quantity to assess convergence. The residual reaches a very low (constant in the implicit case) value while the solution is still evolving. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes solver for large eddy simulation of turbulent flows

An unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes solver that uses a dual time stepping method combined with spatially high‐order‐accurate finite differences, is developed for large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent flows. The present solver uses a primitive variable formulation that is based on the artificial compressibility method and various convergence–acceleration techniques are incorporated to efficiently simulate unsteady flows. A localized dynamic subgrid model, which is formulated using the subgrid kinetic energy, is employed for subgrid turbulence modeling. To evaluate the accuracy and the efficiency of the new solver, a posteriori tests for various turbulent flows are carried out and the resulting turbulence statistics are compared with existing experimental and direct numerical simulation (DNS) data. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of point implicit Runge–Kutta methods to inviscid and laminar flow problems using AUSM and AUSM+ upwinding

Explicit Runge–Kutta methods preconditioned by a pointwise matrix valued preconditioner can significantly improve the convergence rate to approximate steady state solutions of laminar flows. This has been shown for central discretisation schemes and Roe upwinding. Since the first-order approximation to the inviscid flux assuming constant weighting of the dissipative terms is given by the absolute value of the Roe matrix, the construction of the preconditioner is rather simple compared to other upwind techniques. However, in this article we show that similar improvements in the convergence rates can also be obtained for the AUSM⁺ scheme. Following the ideas for the central and Roe schemes, the preconditioner is obtained by a first-order approximation to the derivative of the convective flux. Viscous terms are included into the preconditioner considering a thin shear layer approximation. A complete derivation of the derivative terms is shown. In numerical examples, we demonstrate the improved convergence rates when compared with a standard explicit Runge–Kutta method accelerated with local time stepping.     

Implicit meanflow–multigrid algorithms for Reynolds stress model computation of 3‐D anisotropy‐driven and compressible flows

The present paper investigates the multigrid (MG) acceleration of compressible Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes computations using Reynolds‐stress model 7‐equation turbulence closures, as well as lower‐level 2‐equation models. The basic single‐grid SG algorithm combines upwind‐biased discretization with a subiterative local‐dual‐time‐stepping time‐integration procedure. MG acceleration, using characteristic MG restriction and prolongation operators, is applied on meanflow variables only (MF–MG), turbulence variables being simply injected onto coarser grids. A previously developed non‐time‐consistent (for steady flows) full‐approximation‐multigrid (s–MG) is assessed for 3‐D anisotropy‐driven and/or separated flows, which are dominated by the convergence of turbulence variables. Even for these difficult test cases CPU‐speed‐ups r_CPUSUP∈[3, 5] are obtained. Alternative, potentially time‐consistent approaches (unsteady u–MG), where MG acceleration is applied at each subiteration, are also examined, using different subiterative strategies, MG cycles, and turbulence models. For 2‐D shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction, the fastest s–MG approach, with a V(2, 0) sawtooth cycle, systematically yields CPU‐speed‐ups of 5±½, quasi‐independent of the particular turbulence closure used. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multigrid adaptive mesh refinement strategy for 3D aerodynamic design

Presently, improving the accuracy and reducing computational costs are still two major CFD objectives often considered incompatible. This paper proposes to solve this dilemma by developing an adaptive mesh refinement method in order to integrate the 3D Euler and Navier–Stokes equations on structured meshes, where a local multigrid method is used to accelerate convergence for steady compressible flows. The time integration method is a LU‐SGS method (AIAA J 1988; 26: 1025–1026) associated with a spatial Jameson‐type scheme (Numerical solutions of the Euler equations by finite volume methods using Runge–Kutta time‐stepping schemes. AIAA Paper, 81‐1259, 1981). Computations of turbulent flows are handled by the standard k–ω model of Wilcox (AIAA J 1994; 32: 247–255). A coarse grid correction, based on composite residuals, has been devised in order to enforce the coupling between the different grid levels and to accelerate the convergence. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on standard 2D and 3D aerodynamic configurations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of a preconditioned high‐order accurate artificial compressibility‐based incompressible flow solver in wide range of Reynolds numbers

In the present study, the preconditioned incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations with the artificial compressibility method formulated in the generalized curvilinear coordinates are numerically solved by using a high‐order compact finite‐difference scheme for accurately and efficiently computing the incompressible flows in a wide range of Reynolds numbers. A fourth‐order compact finite‐difference scheme is utilized to accurately discretize the spatial derivative terms of the governing equations, and the time integration is carried out based on the dual time‐stepping method. The capability of the proposed solution methodology for the computations of the steady and unsteady incompressible viscous flows from very low to high Reynolds numbers is investigated through the simulation of different 2‐dimensional benchmark problems, and the results obtained are compared with the existing analytical, numerical, and experimental data. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to evaluate the effects of the size of the computational domain and other numerical parameters on the accuracy and performance of the solution algorithm. The present solution procedure is also extended to 3 dimensions and applied for computing the incompressible flow over a sphere. Indications are that the application of the preconditioning in the solution algorithm together with the high‐order discretization method in the generalized curvilinear coordinates provides an accurate and robust solution method for simulating the incompressible flows over practical geometries in a wide range of Reynolds numbers including the creeping flows.     

A finite volume unstructured multigrid method for efficient computation of unsteady incompressible viscous flows

An unstructured non‐nested multigrid method is presented for efficient simulation of unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes flows. The Navier–Stokes solver is based on the artificial compressibility approach and a higher‐order characteristics‐based finite‐volume scheme on unstructured grids. Unsteady flow is calculated with an implicit dual time stepping scheme. For efficient computation of unsteady viscous flows over complex geometries, an unstructured multigrid method is developed to speed up the convergence rate of the dual time stepping calculation. The multigrid method is used to simulate the steady and unsteady incompressible viscous flows over a circular cylinder for validation and performance evaluation purposes. It is found that the multigrid method with three levels of grids results in a 75% reduction in CPU time for the steady flow calculation and 55% reduction for the unsteady flow calculation, compared with its single grid counterparts. The results obtained are compared with numerical solutions obtained by other researchers as well as experimental measurements wherever available and good agreements are obtained. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical experiments with several variant WENO schemes for the Euler equations

Numerical experiments with several variants of the original weighted essentially non‐oscillatory (WENO) schemes (J. Comput. Phys. 1996; 126 :202–228) including anti‐diffusive flux corrections, the mapped WENO scheme, and modified smoothness indicator are tested for the Euler equations. The TVD Runge–Kutta explicit time‐integrating scheme is adopted for unsteady flow computations and lower–upper symmetric‐Gauss–Seidel (LU‐SGS) implicit method is employed for the computation of steady‐state solutions. A numerical flux of the variant WENO scheme in flux limiter form is presented, which consists of first‐order and high‐order fluxes and allows for a more flexible choice of low‐order schemes. Computations of unsteady oblique shock wave diffraction over a wedge and steady transonic flows over NACA 0012 and RAE 2822 airfoils are presented to test and compare the methods. Various aspects of the variant WENO methods including contact discontinuity sharpening and steady‐state convergence rate are examined. By using the WENO scheme with anti‐diffusive flux corrections, the present solutions indicate that good convergence rate can be achieved and high‐order accuracy is maintained and contact discontinuities are sharpened markedly as compared with the original WENO schemes on the same meshes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of unsteady turbulent flows around moving aerofoils using the pseudo‐time method

The pseudo‐time formulation of Jameson has facilitated the use of numerical methods for unsteady flows, these methods have proved successful for steady flows. The formulation uses iterations through pseudo‐time to arrive at the next real time approximation. This iteration can be used in a straightforward manner to remove sequencing errors introduced when solving mean flow equations together with another set of differential equations (e.g. two‐equation turbulence models or structural equations). The current paper discusses the accuracy and efficiency advantages of removing the sequencing error and the effect that building extra equations into the pseudo‐time iteration has on its convergence characteristics. Test cases used are for the turbulent flow around pitching and ramping aerofoils. The performance of an implicit method for solving the pseudo‐steady state problem is also assessed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The locally conservative Galerkin (LCG) method for solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

In this paper, the locally conservative Galerkin (LCG) method (Numer. Heat Transfer B Fundam. 2004; 46 :357–370; Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 2007) has been extended to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. A new correction term is also incorporated to make the formulation to give identical results to that of the continuous Galerkin (CG) method. In addition to ensuring element‐by‐element conservation, the method also allows solution of the governing equations over individual elements, independent of the neighbouring elements. This is achieved within the CG framework by breaking the domain into elemental sub‐domains. Although this allows discontinuous trial function field, we have carried out the formulation using the continuous trial function space as the basis. Thus, the changes in the existing CFD codes are kept to a minimum. The edge fluxes, establishing the continuity between neighbouring elements, are calculated via a post‐processing step during the time‐stepping operation. Therefore, the employed formulation needs to be carried out using either a time‐stepping or an equivalent iterative scheme that allows post‐processing of fluxes. The time‐stepping algorithm employed in this paper is based on the characteristic‐based split (CBS) scheme. Both steady‐ and unsteady‐state examples presented show that the element‐by‐element formulation employed is accurate and robust. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A time‐accurate pseudo‐compressibility approach based on an unstructured hybrid finite volume technique applied to unsteady turbulent premixed flame propagation

A preconditioning approach based on the artificial compressibility formulation is extended to solve the governing equations for unsteady turbulent reactive flows with heat release, at low Mach numbers, on an unstructured hybrid grid context. Premixed reactants are considered and a flamelet approach for combustion modelling is adopted using a continuous quenched mean reaction rate. An overlapped cell‐vertex finite volume method is adopted as a discretisation scheme. Artificial dissipation terms for hybrid grids are explicitly added to ensure a stable, discretised set of equations. A second‐order, explicit, hybrid Runge–Kutta scheme is applied for the time marching in pseudo‐time. A time derivative of the dependent variable is added to recover the time accuracy of the preconditioned set of equations. This derivative is discretised by an implicit, second‐order scheme. The resulting scheme is applied to the calculation of an infinite planar (one‐dimensional) turbulent premixed flame propagating freely in reactants whose turbulence is supposed to be frozen, homogeneous and isotropic. The accuracy of the results obtained with the proposed method proves to be excellent when compared to the data available in the literature. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A time‐accurate scheme for the calculations of unsteady reactive flows at low Mach number

The artificial compressibility method is extended to the case of unsteady turbulent reacting flows at low Mach number. The resulting scheme is applied to the calculation of a propagating one‐dimensional (1D) planar turbulent flame with a realistic heat release parameter. An eddy break‐up‐like approach, with a conventional gradient expression for the turbulent fluxes, is retained to model this reacting turbulent flow. A quenched form of the mean reaction rate is used to ensure the existence of a steady regime of propagation, for which the present results are compared with those obtained by a steady analysis of the mean flame brush structure, with excellent agreement. A sensitivity analysis of the convergence rate to the values of the artificial compressibility factor and the pseudo‐time is carried out. It is shown that a reduced artificial compressibility factor of 5–10, combined with a pseudo‐Courant number of ≈1000, represents a good compromise to optimize the convergence rate. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A matrix‐free preconditioned Newton/GMRES method for unsteady Navier–Stokes solutions

The unsteady compressible Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations are discretized using the Osher approximate Riemann solver with fully implicit time stepping. The resulting non‐linear system at each time step is solved iteratively using a Newton/GMRES method. In the solution process, the Jacobian matrix–vector products are replaced by directional derivatives so that the evaluation and storage of the Jacobian matrix is removed from the procedure. An effective matrix‐free preconditioner is proposed to fully avoid matrix storage. Convergence rates, computational costs and computer memory requirements of the present method are compared with those of a matrix Newton/GMRES method, a four stage Runge–Kutta explicit method, and an approximate factorization sub‐iteration method. Effects of convergence tolerances for the GMRES linear solver on the convergence and the efficiency of the Newton iteration for the non‐linear system at each time step are analysed for both matrix‐free and matrix methods. Differences in the performance of the matrix‐free method for laminar and turbulent flows are highlighted and analysed. Unsteady turbulent Navier–Stokes solutions of pitching and combined translation–pitching aerofoil oscillations are presented for unsteady shock‐induced separation problems associated with the rotor blade flows of forward flying helicopters. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation and application of point implicit Runge–Kutta methods to inviscid flow problems

We derive and investigate point implicit Runge–Kutta methods to significantly improve the convergence rate to approximate steady‐state solutions of inviscid flows. It turns out that the point implicit Runge–Kutta can be interpreted as a preconditioned explicit Runge–Kutta method, where the preconditioner arises naturally as local derivative of the residual function. Moreover, many preconditioners suggested in the literature so far are identified as special case of our general ansatz. Conditions will be formulated such that explicit Runge–Kutta methods with local time stepping are equivalent to point implicit methods. In numerical examples, we will demonstrate the improved convergence rates. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.