Computations of wall distances by solving a transport equation

Computations of wall distances still play a key role in modern turbulence modeling. Motivated by the expense involved in the computation, an approach solving partial differential equations is considered. An Euler-like transport equation is proposed based on the Eikonal equation. Thus, the efficient algorithms and code components developed for solving transport equations such as Euler and Navier-Stokes equations can be reused. This article provides a detailed implementation of the transport equation in the Cartesian coordinates based on the code of computational fluid dynamics for missiles (MICFD) of Beihang University. The transport equation is robust and rapidly convergent by the implicit lower-upper symmetric Gauss-Seidel (LUSGS) time advancement and upwind spatial discretization. Geometric derivatives must also be upwind determined to ensure accuracy. Special treatments on initial and boundary conditions are discussed. This distance solving approach is successfully applied on several complex geometries with 1-1 blocking or overset grids.     

极坐标系下Fourier-Legendre谱元方法与有限差分法数值扩散的比较

提出一种Fourier-Legendre谱元方法用于求解极坐标系下的Navier-Stokes方程,其中极点所在单元的径向采用Gauss-Radau积分点,避免了r=0处的1/r坐标奇异性。时间离散采用时间分裂法,引入数值同位素模型跟踪同位素的输运过程验证数值模拟的精度,分别利用谱元法和有限差分法的迎风差分格式求解匀速和加速坩埚旋转流动中的同位素方程。计算结果表明,有限差分法中的一阶迎风差分格式存在严重的数值假扩散,二阶迎风差分格式的数值结果较精确,增加节点可以有效地缓解数值扩散。然而,谱元法具有以较少节点得到高精度解的优势。     

Optimization of unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes flows using variational level set method

This paper presents the optimization of unsteady Navier–Stokes flows using the variational level set method. The solid–liquid interface is expressed by the level set function implicitly, and the fluid velocity is constrained to be zero in the solid domain. An optimization problem, which is constrained by the Navier–Stokes equations and a fluid volume constraint, is analyzed by the Lagrangian multiplier based adjoint approach. The corresponding continuous adjoint equations and the shape sensitivity are derived. The level set function is evolved by solving the Hamilton–Jacobian equation with the upwind finite difference method. The optimization method can be used to design channels for flows with or without body forces. The numerical examples demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of this optimization method for unsteady Navier–Stokes flows.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solution to Euler equations by high‐resolution upwind compact scheme based on flux splitting

A high‐resolution upwind compact method based on flux splitting is developed for solving the compressive Euler equations. The convective flux terms are discretized by using the modified advection upstream splitting method (AUSM). The developed scheme is used to compute the one‐dimensional Burgers equation and four different example problems of supersonic compressible flows, respectively. The results show that the high‐resolution upwind compact scheme based on modified AUSM+ flux splitting can capture shock wave and other discontinuities, obtain higher resolution and restrain numerical oscillation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A finite difference self-adaptive mesh solution of flow in a sedimentation tank

A new numerical model has been developed to evaluate the removal efficiency of primary sedimentation clarifiers operating at neutral density condition. The velocity and concentration fields as well as the development in time and space of the settled particle bed thickness are simulated. The main difficulties in simulation of velocity and concentration fields are related to (1) numerical instabilities produced by the prevalence of convective terms in the unknown variable high-gradient regions and (2) turbulence effects on the suspension of solid particles from the settled bed. The need to overcome the numerical instabilities without the upwind difference approximation, which introduces high numerical viscosity, suggests the use of non-uniform grids of calculation. The velocity field is obtained by solving the motion equations in the vorticity and streamfunction formulation by means of a new numerical method based upon a dynamically self-adjusting calculation grid. These grids allow for a finer mesh following the evolution of the unknown quantities. A k–? model is used to simulate turbulence phenomena. The sedimentation field is found by solving the diffusion and transport equation of the solid particle concentration. Boundary conditions on the bottom line are imposed relating the amount of turbulence flux and sedimentation flux to the actual concentration and the reference concentration. Such an approach makes it possible to represent the solid particle suspension from the bottom, taking into account its dependence on (1) the characteristics and the evolution in time of the settled bed, (2) the velocity component parallel to the bottom line and (3) the turbulence structure.     

Dynamic load balance applied to particle transport in fluids

This work presents a parallel numerical strategy to transport Lagrangian particles in a fluid using a dynamic load balance strategy. Both fluid and particle solvers are parallel, with two levels of parallelism. The first level is based on a substructuring technique and uses message passing interface (MPI) as the communication library; the second level consists of OpenMP pragmas for loop parallelisation at the node level. When dealing with transient flows, there exist two main alternatives to address the coupling of these solvers. On the one hand, a single-code approach consists in solving the particle equations once the fluid solution has been obtained at the end of a time step, using the same instance of the same code. On the other hand, a multi-code approach enables one to overlap the transport of the particles with the next time-step solution of the fluid equations, and thus obtain asynchronism. In this case, different codes or two instances of the same code can be used. Both approaches will be presented. In addition, a dynamic load balancing library is used on the top of OpenMP pragmas in order to continuously exploit all the resources available at the node level, thus increasing the load balance and the efficiency of the parallelisation and uses the MPI.     

Conservative monotone streamline upwind formulation using simplex elements

A streamline upwind formulation is presented for the treatment of the advection terms in the general transport equation. The formulation is monotone and conservative and is based on the discontinuous nature of the advection mechanism. The results of there benchmark test cases for the full range of flow Peclet numbers are presented. The new formulation is shown to accurately model the advection phenomenon with significantly smaller numerical diffusion than the existing methods. The results are also free of all spatial oscillations. Considerable savings in computer storage and execution time have been achieved by employing the three-noded triangular element for which exact integrations exist. The formulation is straightforward and can be readily incorporated into any finite element code using the conventional Galerkin approach.     

A finite element method to solve the Navier-Stokes equations using the method of characteristics

We present a simple and efficient finite element method to solve the Navier-Stokes equations in primitive variables V, p. It uses (a) an explicit advection step, by upwind differencing. Improvement with regard to the classical upwind differencing scheme of the first order is realized by accurate calculation of the characteristic curve across several elements, and higher order interpolation; (b) an implicit diffusion step, avoiding any theoretical limitation on the time increment, and (c) determination of the pressure field by solving the Poisson equation. Two laminar flow calculations are presented and compared to available numerical and experimental results.     

Velocity–pressure coupling in finite difference formulations for the Navier–Stokes equations

A new numerical procedure for solving the two‐dimensional, steady, incompressible, viscous flow equations on a staggered Cartesian grid is presented in this paper. The proposed methodology is finite difference based, but essentially takes advantage of the best features of two well‐established numerical formulations, the finite difference and finite volume methods. Some weaknesses of the finite difference approach are removed by exploiting the strengths of the finite volume method. In particular, the issue of velocity–pressure coupling is dealt with in the proposed finite difference formulation by developing a pressure correction equation using the SIMPLE approach commonly used in finite volume formulations. However, since this is purely a finite difference formulation, numerical approximation of fluxes is not required. Results presented in this paper are based on first‐ and second‐order upwind schemes for the convective terms. This new formulation is validated against experimental and other numerical data for well‐known benchmark problems, namely developing laminar flow in a straight duct, flow over a backward‐facing step, and lid‐driven cavity flow. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi-implicit Skew Upwind Method for problems in environmental hydraulics

A new computational method is presented for reducing numerical diffusion in environmental fluid problems. This method, which is referred to as the Semi-Implicit Skew Upwind Method (SISUM), is a robust solution procedure for the conditional convergence of the discretized transport equations. The method retains the advantage of the low numerical diffusion of the conventional skew upwind schemes but does not suffer from over- or under-shooting often found in these methods due to the improved interpolation schemes. The effectiveness of SISUM is demonstrated in several examples. The comparison of the results of a hybrid scheme and SISUM with field observations of convection-dominated pollutant transport in strongly curvilinear river flow shows that SISUM successfully eliminates the high numerical diffusion produced by the hybrid scheme. The robustness of the method was tested by solving the hydrodynamics of a circular clarifier model with a large density gravity source term in the vertical-momentum equation.