Newton's method for solving heat transfer,fluid flow and interface shapes in a floating molten zone

Newton's method is applied to the finite volume approximation for the steady state heat transfer, fluid flow and unknown interfaces in a floating molten zone. The streamfunction/vorticity and temperature formulation of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations and their associated boundary conditions are written in generalized curvilinear co-ordinates and conservative law form with the Boussinesq approximation. During Newton iteration the ILU(0) preconditioned GMRES matrix solver is applied for solving the linear system, where the sparse Jacobian matrix is estimated by finite differences. Nearly quadratic convergence of the method is observed. Sample calculations are reported for sodium nitrate, a high-Prandtl-number material (Pr = 9.12). Both natural convection and thermocapillary flow as well as an overall mass balance constraint in the molten zone are considered. The effects of convection and heat input on the flow patterns, zone position and interface shapes are illustrated. After the lens effect due to the molten zone is considered, the calculated flow patterns and interface shapes are compared with the observed ones and are found to be in good agreement.     

Finite element simulation of vacuum arc remelting

Vacuum arc remelting is a process for producing homogeneous ingots of reactive and macrosegregation-sensitive alloys. A mathematical model of the transport phenomena in the ingot melt is presented together with a discussion of the various simplifying assumptions and approximations that make the problem tractable, with particular attention on transport in the interdendritic mushy zone and on the magnetohydrodynamics. The finite element method is used to discretize the equations for the non-isothermal flow problem and the quasi-static electromagnetic problem. Coupling of the finite element solutions for the two field problems is accomplished using the Parallel Virtual Machine software. An analysis of the fluid flow and heat transport in the melt pool of the solidifying ingot shows some of the factors that influence ingot quality during quasi-steady growth conditions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solution of flow around complex‐shaped surfaces by an immersed boundary‐body conformal enrichment method

Solving the flow around objects with complex shapes may involve extensive meshing work that has to be repeated each time a change in the geometry is needed. Time consuming meshing can be avoided when the solution algorithm can tackle grids that do not fit the shape of immersed objects. This work presents applications of a recently proposed immersed boundary—body conformal enrichment method to the solution of the flow around complex shaped surfaces such as those of a metallic foam matrix. The method produces solutions of the flow satisfying accurately Dirichlet boundary conditions imposed on the immersed fluid/solid interface. The boundary of immersed objects is defined using a level‐set function, and the finite element discretization of interface elements is enriched with additional degrees of freedom, which are eliminated at element level. The method is first validated in the case of flow problems for which reference solutions on body‐conformal grids can be obtained: flow around an array of spheres and flow around periodic arrays of cylinders. Then, solutions are shown for the more complex flow inside a metallic foam matrix. A multiscale approach combining the solution at the pore level by the immersed boundary method and the macro‐scale solution with simulated permeability is used to solve actual experimental configurations. The computed pressure drop as a function of the flow rate on the macro scale configuration replicating two experimental setups is compared with the experimental data for various foam thicknesses. Copyright © 2011 National Research Council Canada     

Mixed Convection Effect on Melting from a Vertical Plate in a Porous Medium

In the present work, the effect of mixed convection about vertical surfaces on the phenomenon of melting process in a fluid-saturated porous medium is analyzed on the basis of boundary layer approximations. Similarity solutions are obtained for aiding external flow. The final similarity equations are integrated numerically by use of the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. Results are reported for the flow and thermal fields in the melt region. The melting phenomenon decreases the local Nusselt number at the solid–liquid interface.     

A 3D incompressible Navier–Stokes velocity–vorticity weak form finite element algorithm

The velocity–vorticity formulation is selected to develop a time‐accurate CFD finite element algorithm for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in three dimensions.The finite element implementation uses equal order trilinear finite elements on a non‐staggered hexahedral mesh. A second order vorticity kinematic boundary condition is derived for the no slip wall boundary condition which also enforces the incompressibility constraint. A biconjugate gradient stabilized (BiCGSTAB) sparse iterative solver is utilized to solve the fully coupled system of equations as a Newton algorithm. The solver yields an efficient parallel solution algorithm on distributed‐memory machines, such as the IBM SP2. Three dimensional laminar flow solutions for a square channel, a lid‐driven cavity, and a thermal cavity are established and compared with available benchmark solutions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Petrov-Galerkin methods for natural convection in directional solidification of binary alloys

A Petrov-Galerkin finite element method is presented for calculation of the steady, axisymmetric thermosolutal convection and interface morphology in a model for vertical Bridgman crystal growth of nondilute binary alloys. The Petrov-Galerkin method is based on the formulation for biquadratic elements developed by Heinrich and Zienkiewicz and is introduced into the calculation of the velocity, temperature and concentration fields. The algebraic system is solved simultaneously for the field variables and interface shape by Newton's method. The results of the Petrov-Galerkin method are compared critically with those of Galerkin's method using the same finite element grids. Significant improvements in accuracy are found with the Petrov-Galerkin method only when the mesh is refined and when the formulation of the residual equations is modified to account for the mixed boundary conditions that arise at the solidification interface. Calculations for alloys with stable and unstable solute gradients show the occurrence of classical flow transitions and morphological instabilities in the solidification system.     

Axisymmetric deformations of circular rings made of linear and Neo-Hookean materials under internal and external pressure: A benchmark for finite element codes

The axisymmetric deformations of thick circular rings are investigated. Four materials are explored: linear material, incompressible Neo-Hookean material and Ogden's and Bower's forms of compressible Neo-Hookean material. Radial distributed forces and a displacement-dependent pressure are the external loads. This problem is relatively simple and allows analytical, or semi-analytical, solution; therefore it has been chosen as a benchmark to test commercial finite element software for various material laws at large strains. The solutions obtained with commercial finite element software are almost identical to the present semi-analytical ones, except for the linear material, for which commercial finite element programs give incorrect results.     

A study of penalty elements for incompressible laminar flows

A finite element model is developed based on the penalty formulation to study incompressible laminar flows. The study includes a number of new quadrilateral and triangular elements for 2-dimensional flows and a number of new hexahedral and tetrahedral elements for 3-dimensional flows. All elements employ continuous velocity approximations and discontinuous pressure approximations respecting the LBB condition of numerical instability. An incremental Newton–Raphson method coupled with the Broyden method is used to solve the non-linear equations. Several numerical examples (colliding flow, cavity flow, etc.) are presented to assess the efficiency of elements.     

Fluid–structure interaction modelling of nonlinear aeroelastic structures using the finite element corotational theory

The application of the finite element corotational theory to model geometric nonlinear structures within a fluid–structure interaction procedure is proposed. A dynamic corotational approximately-energy-conserving algorithm is used to solve the nonlinear structural response and it is shown that this algorithm's application with a four-node flat finite element is more stable than the nonlinear implicit Newmark method. This structural dynamic algorithm is coupled with the unsteady vortex-ring method using a staggered technique. These procedures were used to obtain aeroelastic results of a nonlinear plate-type wing subjected to low speed airflow. It is shown that stable and accurate numerical solutions are obtained using the proposed fluid–structure interaction algorithm. Furthermore, it is illustrated that geometric nonlinearities lead to limit cycle oscillations.     

A numerical study of heat transfer during flow of melt in a cylindrical mould

A numerical analysis of transient heat transfer during the flow of a melt in a cylindrical mould is presented. The analysis includes thermal resistance at the melt-mould interface, and axial conduction inside both melt and mould. Energy equations are formulated in a domain that expands continuously due to the advance of the melt inside the empty mould, and solved by the finite difference method using a time-stepping procedure. Calculations are compared to existing analytic results. It is found that axial conduction in the melt can significantly influence the rate of heat loss from the flowing melt, and that analytic approximations, which neglect axial conduction, may give erroneous predictions for the rate of heat loss.     

A finite element immersed boundary method for fluid flow around rigid objects

This paper proposes a new immersed boundary (IB) method for solving fluid flow problems in the presence of rigid objects which are not represented by the mesh. Solving the flow around objects with complex shapes may involve extensive meshing work that has to be repeated each time a change in the geometry is needed. Important benefit would be reached if we are able to solve the flow without the need of generating a mesh that fits the shape of the immersed objects. This work presents a finite element IB method using a discretization covering the entire domain of interest, including the volume occupied by immersed objects, and which produces solutions of the flow satisfying accurately the boundary conditions at the surface of immersed bodies. In other words the finite element solution represents accurately the presence of immersed bodies while the mesh does not. This is done by including additional degrees of freedom on interface cut elements which are then eliminated at element level. The boundary of immersed objects is defined using a level set function. Solutions are shown for various flow problems and the accuracy of the present approach is measured with respect to solutions obtained on body‐fitted meshes. Copyright © 2010 Crown in the right of Canada.     

Two‐level finite element method with a stabilizing subgrid for the incompressible MHD equations

We consider the Galerkin finite element method (FEM) for the incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in two dimension. The domain is discretized into a set of regular triangular elements and the finite‐dimensional spaces employed consist of piecewise continuous linear interpolants enriched with the residual‐free bubble functions. To find the bubble part of the solution, a two‐level FEM with a stabilizing subgrid of a single node is described and its application to the MHD equations is displayed. Numerical approximations employing the proposed algorithm are presented for three benchmark problems including the MHD cavity flow and the MHD flow over a step. The results show that the proper choice of the subgrid node is crucial to get stable and accurate numerical approximations consistent with the physical configuration of the problem at a cheap computational cost. Furthermore, the approximate solutions obtained show the well‐known characteristics of the MHD flow. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design sensitivity analysis for parameters affecting geometry,elastic–viscoplastic material constant and boundary condition by consistent tangent operator-based boundary element method

This paper presents a design sensitivity analysis method by the consistent tangent operator concept-based boundary element implicit algorithm. The design variables for sensitivity analysis include geometry parameters, elastic–viscoplastic material parameters and boundary condition parameters. Based on small strain theory, Perzyna’s elastic–viscoplastic material constitutive relation with a mixed hardening model and two flow functions is considered in the sensitivity analysis. The related elastic–viscoplastic radial return algorithm and the formula of elastic–viscoplastic consistent tangent operator are derived and discussed. Based on the direct differentiation approach, the incremental boundary integral equations and related algorithms for both geometric and elastic–viscoplastic sensitivity analysis are developed. A 2D boundary element program for geometry sensitivity, elastic–viscoplastic material constant sensitivity and boundary condition sensitivity has been developed. Comparison and discussion with the results of this paper, analytical solution and finite element code ANSYS for four plane strain numerical examples are presented finally.     

Scientific post hoc and in situ visualisation of high-order polynomial solutions from massively parallel simulations

This paper presents two recent numerical tools developed respectively to perform traditional post-processing and more advanced in situ processing of high-order polynomial data generated by massively parallel finite element codes. For post-processing and visualisation of high-order solutions, we present a new ParaView plugin that integrates Gmsh used as an external library. This plugin therefore combines respectively ParaView's scalability in parallel and Gmsh's ability to apply h-refinement of the initial mesh followed by solution interpolation on the resulting visualisation grid, thus enabling parallel visualisation of any arbitrary high-order polynomial solutions in client–server mode. In a second stage, this capacity has been extended to an in situ interface based on the Catalyst library which enables in situ analysis and visualisation of high-order solutions. These new capacities are demonstrated with the visualisation of high-order solution of the unsteady flow generated by a discontinuous Galerkin method for an unsteady turbomachinery application.     

An embedded boundary framework for compressible turbulent flow and fluid–structure computations on structured and unstructured grids

The finite volume method with exact two‐phase Riemann problems (FIVER) is a two‐faceted computational method for compressible multi‐material (fluid–fluid, fluid–structure, and multi‐fluid–structure) problems characterized by large density jumps, and/or highly nonlinear structural motions and deformations. For compressible multi‐phase flow problems, FIVER is a Godunov‐type discretization scheme characterized by the construction and solution at the material interfaces of local, exact, two‐phase Riemann problems. For compressible fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems, it is an embedded boundary method for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capable of handling large structural deformations and topological changes. Originally developed for inviscid multi‐material computations on nonbody‐fitted structured and unstructured grids, FIVER is extended in this paper to laminar and turbulent viscous flow and FSI problems. To this effect, it is equipped with carefully designed extrapolation schemes for populating the ghost fluid values needed for the construction, in the vicinity of the fluid–structure interface, of second‐order spatial approximations of the viscous fluxes and source terms associated with Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS)‐based turbulence models and large eddy simulation (LES). Two support algorithms, which pertain to the application of any embedded boundary method for CFD to the robust, accurate, and fast solution of FSI problems, are also presented in this paper. The first one focuses on the fast computation of the time‐dependent distance to the wall because it is required by many RANS‐based turbulence models. The second algorithm addresses the robust and accurate computation of the flow‐induced forces and moments on embedded discrete surfaces, and their finite element representations when these surfaces are flexible. Equipped with these two auxiliary algorithms, the extension of FIVER to viscous flow and FSI problems is first verified with the LES of a turbulent flow past an immobile prolate spheroid, and the computation of a series of unsteady laminar flows past two counter‐rotating cylinders. Then, its potential for the solution of complex, turbulent, and flexible FSI problems is also demonstrated with the simulation, using the Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model, of the vertical tail buffeting of an F/A‐18 aircraft configuration and the comparison of the obtained numerical results with flight test data. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forces on oscillating bodies in viscous fluid

This paper describes a method for determining the fluid forces on oscillating bodies in viscous fluid when the corresponding flow problem has been solved using the finite element method. These forces are characterized by the concept of added mass, added damping and added force. Numerical results are obtained for several example body shapes. Comparison is made with exact analytical results and other finite element results for the limiting cases of Stoke's flow and inviscid flow, and good agreement is obtained. The results for finite values of the body amplitude parameter β show the appearance of added force from the steady streaming component of the flow for asymmetric bodies. Results are also obtained for the associated flow where the fluid remote from a fixed body is oscillating.     

An algorithm for rotating axisymmetric flows: model,validation and industrial applications

The study of axisymmetric flows is of interest not only from an academic point of view, due to the existence of exact solutions of Navier–Stokes equations, but also from an industrial point of view, since these kind of flows are frequently found in several applications. In the present work the development and implementation of a finite element algorithm to solve Navier–Stokes equations with axisymmetric geometry and boundary conditions is presented. Such algorithm allows the simulation of flows with tangential velocity, including free surface flows, for both laminar and turbulent conditions. Pseudo‐concentration technique is used to model the free surface (or the interface between two fluids) and the k–ε model is employed to take into account turbulent effects. The finite element model is validated by comparisons with analytical solutions of Navier–Stokes equations and experimental measurements. Two different industrial applications are presented. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of transpiration cooling through porous material

Transpiration cooling using ceramic matrix composite materials is an innovative concept for cooling rocket thrust chambers. The coolant (air) is driven through the porous material by a pressure difference between the coolant reservoir and the turbulent hot gas flow. The effectiveness of such cooling strategies relies on a proper choice of the involved process parameters such as injection pressure, blowing ratios, and material structure parameters, to name only a few. In view of the limited experimental access to the subtle processes occurring at the interface between hot gas flow and porous medium, reliable and accurate simulations become an increasingly important design tool. In order to facilitate such numerical simulations for a carbon/carbon material mounted in the side wall of a hot gas channel that are able to capture a spatially varying interplay between the hot gas flow and the coolant at the interface, we formulate a model for the porous medium flow of Darcy–Forchheimer type. A finite‐element solver for the corresponding porous medium flow is presented and coupled with a finite‐volume solver for the compressible Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional results at Mach number Ma = 0.5 and hot gas temperature T_HG=540 K for different blowing ratios are compared with experimental data. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite element simulation of turbulent Couette–Poiseuille flows using a low Reynolds number k–ϵ model

Developing Couette–Poiseuille flows at Re=5000 are studied using a low Reynolds number k–ϵ two‐equation model and a finite element formulation. Mesh‐independent solutions are obtained using a standard Galerkin formulation and a Galerkin/least‐squares stabilized method. The predictions for the velocity and turbulent kinetic energy are compared with available experimental results and to the DNS data. Second moment closure's solutions are also compared with those of the k–ϵ model. The deficiency of eddy viscosity models to predict dissymmetric low Reynolds number channel flows has been demonstrated. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不可压缩N-S方程的稳定分步算法及耦合离散

在有限增量微积分(finite increment calculus, FIC)的理论框架下，通过引入一个附加变量，发展了压力稳定型分步算法，有效改善了经典 分步算法的压力稳定性，同时还避免了标准FIC方法中存在的空间高阶导数的计算. 为保证 数值方法同时具有较快的计算速度和较好的健壮性，发展了有限元与无网格的耦合空间离散 方法. 该方案可在网格发生扭曲的区域采用无网格法空间离散以保证求解的精度和稳定性， 而在网格质量较好的区域以及本质边界上保留使用有限元法空间离散以提高计算效率和便于 施加本质边界条件. 方腔流考题的数值模拟结果突出地显示了所发展的压力稳定型分步算 法比经典分步算法具有更好的压力稳定性，能够有效消除速度-压力插值空间违反LBB条件而 导致的压力场的虚假数值振荡. 平面Poisseuille流动和一个典型型腔充填过程的数值模拟 结果, 表明了发展的耦合离散方案相对于单一的有限元法和单一的无网格法在综合考虑计 算效率和算法健壮性方面的突出优点.