Numerical simulation of fluid flows using an unstructured finite volume method with adaptive tri‐tree grids

A tri‐tree grid generation procedure is developed together with a finite volume method on the unstructured grid for solving the Navier–Stokes equations. A hierarchic numbering system for the data structure is used. The grid is adapted by adding and removing cell elements dependent on the vorticity magnitude. A special treatment is developed to ensure good quality triangular elements around the cylinder boundary. The adopted finite volume method is based on the cell‐centred scheme. The pressure–velocity coupling is treated using the SIMPLE algorithm. A modified QUICK scheme for unstructured grids is derived. The developed method is used to simulate the flow past a single and multiple cylinders at low Reynolds number. The obtained results are in good agreement with the published data. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two‐phase adaptive finite element method for solid–fluid coupling in complex geometries

In this paper we present a method to solve the Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries, such as porous sands, using a finite‐element solver but without the complexity of meshing the porous space. The method is based on treating the solid boundaries as a second fluid and solving a set of equations similar to those used for multi‐fluid flow. When combined with anisotropic mesh adaptivity, it is possible to resolve complex geometries starting with an arbitrary coarse mesh. The approach is validated by comparing simulation results with available data in three test cases. In the first we simulate the flow past a cylinder. The second test case compares the pressure drop in flow through random packs of spheres with the Ergun equation. In the last case simulation results are compared with experimental data on the flow past a simplified vehicle model (Ahmed body) at high Reynolds number using large‐eddy simulation (LES). Results are in good agreement with all three reference models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Potential flow around obstacles using the scaled boundary finite‐element method

The scaled boundary finite‐element method is a novel semi‐analytical technique, combining the advantages of the finite element and the boundary element methods with unique properties of its own. The method works by weakening the governing differential equations in one co‐ordinate direction through the introduction of shape functions, then solving the weakened equations analytically in the other (radial) co‐ordinate direction. These co‐ordinate directions are defined by the geometry of the domain and a scaling centre. The method can be employed for both bounded and unbounded domains. This paper applies the method to problems of potential flow around streamlined and bluff obstacles in an infinite domain. The method is derived using a weighted residual approach and extended to include the necessary velocity boundary conditions at infinity. The ability of the method to model unbounded problems is demonstrated, together with its ability to model singular points in the near field in the case of bluff obstacles. Flow fields around circular and square cylinders are computed, graphically illustrating the accuracy of the technique, and two further practical examples are also presented. Comparisons are made with boundary element and finite difference solutions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical study of projection algorithms in the finite element simulation of three‐dimensional viscous incompressible flow

In this work a comparative study of two versions of the projection algorithm used either for time integration or as an iterative method to solve the three‐dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is presented. It is also shown that these projection algorithms combined with the finite element method are particularly suited for the treatment of outflow boundary conditions in the context of external flows. This assertion is illustrated by means of some numerical examples in which five types of boundary conditions are compared. The scheme is applied to simulate the flow past a cylinder clamped on two fixed parallel solid walls. Comparison with experimental data available for this problem shows good agreement of the velocity and pressure fields, both computed with continuous piecewise linear elements. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two‐dimensional implicit time‐dependent calculations on adaptive unstructured meshes with time evolving boundaries

An implicit multigrid‐driven algorithm for two‐dimensional incompressible laminar viscous flows has been coupled with a solution adaptation method and a mesh movement method for boundary movement. Time‐dependent calculations are performed implicitly by regarding each time step as a steady‐state problem in pseudo‐time. The method of artificial compressibility is used to solve the flow equations. The solution mesh adaptation method performs local mesh refinement using an incremental Delaunay algorithm and mesh coarsening by means of edge collapse. Mesh movement is achieved by modeling the computational domain as an elastic solid and solving the equilibrium equations for the stress field. The solution adaptation method has been validated by comparison with experimental results and other computational results for low Reynolds number flow over a shedding circular cylinder. Preliminary validation of the mesh movement method has been demonstrated by a comparison with experimental results of an oscillating airfoil and with computational results for an oscillating cylinder. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid immersed‐boundary and multi‐block lattice Boltzmann method for simulating fluid and moving‐boundaries interactions

A numerical method is developed for modelling the interactions between incompressible viscous fluid and moving boundaries. The principle of this method is introducing the immersed‐boundary concept in the framework of the lattice Boltzmann method, and improving the accuracy and efficiency of the simulation by refining the mesh near moving boundaries. Besides elastic boundary with a constitutive law, the method can also efficiently simulate solid moving‐boundary interacting with fluid by employing the direct forcing technique. The method is validated by the simulations of flow past a circular cylinder, two cylinders moving with respect to each other and flow around a hovering wing. The versatility of the method is demonstrated by the numerical studies including elastic filament flapping in the wake of a cylinder and fish‐like bodies swimming in quiescent fluid. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit preconditioned high‐order compact scheme for the simulation of the three‐dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with pseudo‐compressibility method

This paper combines the pseudo‐compressibility procedure, the preconditioning technique for accelerating the time marching for stiff hyperbolic equations, and high‐order accurate central compact scheme to establish the code for efficiently and accurately solving incompressible flows numerically based on the finite difference discretization. The spatial scheme consists of the sixth‐order compact scheme and 10th‐order numerical filter operator for guaranteeing computational stability. The preconditioned pseudo‐compressible Navier–Stokes equations are marched temporally using the implicit lower–upper symmetric Gauss–Seidel time integration method, and the time accuracy is improved by the dual‐time step method for the unsteady problems. The efficiency and reliability of the present procedure are demonstrated by applications to Taylor decaying vortices phenomena, double periodic shear layer rolling‐up problem, laminar flow over a flat plate, low Reynolds number unsteady flow around a circular cylinder at Re = 200, high Reynolds number turbulence flow past the S809 airfoil, and the three‐dimensional flows through two 90°curved ducts of square and circular cross sections, respectively. It is found that the numerical results of the present algorithm are in good agreement with theoretical solutions or experimental data. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A preconditioned semi‐staggered dilation‐free finite volume method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on all‐hexahedral elements

A new semi‐staggered finite volume method is presented for the solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on all‐quadrilateral (2D)/hexahedral (3D) meshes. The velocity components are defined at element node points while the pressure term is defined at element centroids. The continuity equation is satisfied exactly within each elements. The checkerboard pressure oscillations are prevented using a special filtering matrix as a preconditioner for the saddle‐point problem resulting from second‐order discretization of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The preconditioned saddle‐point problem is solved using block preconditioners with GMRES solver. In order to achieve higher performance FORTRAN source code is based on highly efficient PETSc and HYPRE libraries. As test cases the 2D/3D lid‐driven cavity flow problem and the 3D flow past array of circular cylinders are solved in order to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employment of the second‐moment turbulence closure on arbitrary unstructured grids

The paper presents a finite‐volume calculation procedure using a second‐moment turbulence closure. The proposed method is based on a collocated variable arrangement and especially adopted for unstructured grids consisting of ‘polyhedral’ calculation volumes. An inclusion of 23k in the pressure is analysed and the impact of such an approach on the employment of the constant static pressure boundary is addressed. It is shown that this approach allows a removal of a standard but cumbersome velocity–pressure –Reynolds stress coupling procedure known as an extension of Rhie‐Chow method (AIAA J. 1983; 21 : 1525–1532) for the Reynolds stresses. A novel wall treatment for the Reynolds‐stress equations and ‘polyhedral’ calculation volumes is presented. Important issues related to treatments of diffusion terms in momentum and Reynolds‐stress equations are also discussed and a new approach is proposed. Special interpolation practices implemented in a deferred‐correction fashion and related to all equations, are explained in detail. Computational results are compared with available experimental data for four very different applications: the flow in a two‐dimensional 180o turned U‐bend, the vortex shedding flow around a square cylinder, the flow around Ahmed Body and in‐cylinder engine flow. Additionally, the performance of the methodology is assessed by applying it to different computational grids. For all test cases, predictions with the second‐moment closure are compared to those of the k–εmodel. The second‐moment turbulence closure always achieves closer agreement with the measurements. A moderate increase in computing time is required for the calculations with the second‐moment closure. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A second‐order time accurate finite element method for quasi‐incompressible viscous flows

A finite element method for quasi‐incompressible viscous flows is presented. An equation for pressure is derived from a second‐order time accurate Taylor–Galerkin procedure that combines the mass and the momentum conservation laws. At each time step, once the pressure has been determined, the velocity field is computed solving discretized equations obtained from another second‐order time accurate scheme and a least‐squares minimization of spatial momentum residuals. The terms that stabilize the finite element method (controlling wiggles and circumventing the Babuska–Brezzi condition) arise naturally from the process, rather than being introduced a priori in the variational formulation. A comparison between the present second‐order accurate method and our previous first‐order accurate formulation is shown. The method is also demonstrated in the computation of the leaky‐lid driven cavity flow and in the simulation of a crossflow past a circular cylinder. In both cases, good agreement with previously published experimental and computational results has been obtained. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of flow-induced bi-directional oscillations

Flow-induced vibration (FIV) by vortex shedding behind a submerged cylinder can lead to damage of nuclear components. With respect to such a serious scenario, various experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted to predict the vibration phenomena. Especially in simulation, the immersed finite element method (IFEM) is a promising approach to solve fluid-structure interaction problems because it needs less computational resources. In this paper, two-dimensional motions of cylinders are simulated by using IFEM to obtain their vibration characteristics. Three benchmark tests such as flow past a fixed circular cylinder, in-line oscillation of a circular cylinder and flow-induced vibration with uni-directional motion are performed to verify the proposed numerical method. Furthermore, bi-directional motions of two horizontally and vertically arranged cylinders as well as that of a single cylinder in fluid flow are analyzed, and then key findings are fully discussed.     

Vortex Induced Vibrations of a Pair of Cylinders at Reynolds Number 1000

Vortex induced vibrations of two equal-sized cylinders in tandem and staggered arrangement placed in uniform incompressible flow is studied. A stabilized finite element formulation is utilized to solve the governing equations. The Reynolds number for these 2D simulations is 1000. The cylinders are separated by 5.5 times the cylinder diameter in the streamwise direction. For the staggered arrangement, the cross-flow spacing between the two cylinders is 0.7 times the cylinder diameter. In this arrangement, the downstream cylinder lies in the wake of the upstream one and therefore experiences an unsteady inflow. The wake looses its temporal periodicity, beyond a few diameters downstream of the front cylinder. The upstream cylinder responds as an isolated single cylinder while the downstream one undergoes disorganized motion. Soft-lock-in is observed in almost all the cases.     

Flow structure around two finite circular cylinders located in an atmospheric boundary layer: side-by-side arrangement

The flow structure around the free-end region of two adjacent finite circular cylinders embedded in an atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) was investigated experimentally. The experiments were carried out in a closed-return-type subsonic wind tunnel, in which two finite cylinders with an aspect ratio of 6 were mounted vertically on a flat plate in a side-by-side arrangement. The Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter was about Re=2×10⁴. Systems with gap ratios (i.e., center-to-center distance/cylinder diameter) in the range 1.0–2.0 were investigated. A hot-wire anemometer was employed to measure the wake velocity, and the mean pressure distribution on the cylinder surface was also measured. The flow past two finite cylinders was found to have a complicated three-dimensional wake structure in the region near the free ends. As the gap ratio increases, regular vortex-shedding becomes dominant, but the length of the vortex formation region decreases. The pressure distribution and flow structure around two cylinders were found to differ substantially from the behavior of a two-dimensional circular cylinder due to mutual interference. The three-dimensional flow structure seems to originate from the strong entrainment of irrotational fluids caused by the downwash counter-rotating vortices separated from the finite cylinder (FC) free ends.     

Hydrodynamic forces on dual cylinders of different diameters in steady currents

Turbulent flow past two circular cylinders of different diameters is numerically investigated. The two-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved by using a finite element method with a k–ω turbulence closure. Following a relevant numerical model validation process, effects of cylinder gap-to-diameter ratio, the angular position of the smaller cylinder and the diameter ratio of cylinders on the vortex shedding and the forces on the cylinders are investigated using the numerical model. It is found that the relative position of the small cylinder has significant effects on the hydrodynamic force and vortex shedding characteristics of the cylinders.     

Numerical simulation of turbulent free surface flow with two‐equation k–ε eddy‐viscosity models

This paper presents a finite difference technique for solving incompressible turbulent free surface fluid flow problems. The closure of the time‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations is achieved by using the two‐equation eddy‐viscosity model: the high‐Reynolds k–ε (standard) model, with a time scale proposed by Durbin; and a low‐Reynolds number form of the standard k–ε model, similar to that proposed by Yang and Shih. In order to achieve an accurate discretization of the non‐linear terms, a second/third‐order upwinding technique is adopted. The computational method is validated by applying it to the flat plate boundary layer problem and to impinging jet flows. The method is then applied to a turbulent planar jet flow beneath and parallel to a free surface. Computations show that the high‐Reynolds k–ε model yields favourable predictions both of the zero‐pressure‐gradient turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate and jet impingement flows. However, the results using the low‐Reynolds number form of the k–ε model are somewhat unsatisfactory. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite element study of vortex‐induced cross‐flow and in‐line oscillations of a circular cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Vortex‐induced vibrations of a circular cylinder placed in a uniform flow at Reynolds number 325 are investigated using a stabilized space–time finite element formulation. The Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible fluid flow are solved for a two‐dimensional case along with the equations of motion of the cylinder that is mounted on lightly damped spring supports. The cylinder is allowed to vibrate, both in the in‐line and in the cross‐flow directions. Results of the computations are presented for various values of the structural frequency of the oscillator, including those that are sub and superharmonics of the vortex‐shedding frequency for a stationary cylinder. In most of the cases, the trajectory of the cylinder corresponds to a Lissajou figure of 8. Lock‐in is observed for a range of values of the structural frequency. Over a certain range of structural frequency (F_s), the vortex‐shedding frequency of the oscillating cylinder does not match F_s exactly; there is a slight detuning. This phenomenon is referred to as soft‐lock‐in. Computations show that this detuning disappears when the mass of the cylinder is significantly larger than the mass of the surrounding fluid it displaces. A self‐limiting nature of the oscillator with respect to cross‐flow vibration amplitude is observed. It is believed that the detuning of the vortex‐shedding frequency from the structural frequency is a mechanism of the oscillator to self‐limit its vibration amplitude. The dependence of the unsteady solution on the spatial resolution of the finite element mesh is also investigated. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulations of viscous flows using a meshless method

This paper uses the element‐free Galerkin (EFG) method to simulate 2D, viscous, incompressible flows. The control equations are discretized with the standard Galerkin method in space and a fractional step finite element scheme in time. Regular background cells are used for the quadrature. Several classical fluid mechanics problems were analyzed including flow in a pipe, flow past a step and flow in a driven cavity. The flow field computed with the EFG method compared well with those calculated using the finite element method (FEM) and finite difference method. The simulations show that although EFG is more expensive computationally than FEM, it is capable of dealing with cases where the nodes are poorly distributed or even overlap with each other; hence, it may be used to resolve remeshing problems in direct numerical simulations. Flows around a cylinder for different Reynolds numbers are also simulated to study the flow patterns for various conditions and the drag and lift forces exerted by the fluid on the cylinder. These forces are calculated by integrating the pressure and shear forces over the cylinder surface. The results show how the drag and lift forces oscillate for high Reynolds numbers. The calculated Strouhal number agrees well with previous results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A local‐analytic‐based discretization procedure for the numerical solution of incompressible flows

An Erratum has been published for this article in International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids 2005, 49(8): 933. We present a local‐analytic‐based discretization procedure for the numerical solution of viscous fluid flows governed by the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The general procedure consists of building local interpolants obtained from local analytic solutions of the linear multi‐dimensional advection–diffusion equation, prototypical of the linearized momentum equations. In view of the local analytic behaviour, the resulting computational stencil and coefficient values are functions of the local flow conditions. The velocity–pressure coupling is achieved by a discrete projection method. Numerical examples in the form of well‐established verification and validation benchmarks are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the formulation. The discretization procedure is implemented alongside the ability to treat embedded and non‐matching grids with relative motion. Of interest are flows at high Reynolds number, ??(10⁵)–??(10⁷), for which the formulation is found to be robust. Applications include flow past a circular cylinder undergoing vortex‐induced vibrations (VIV) at high Reynolds number. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

紧致插值曲线方法在流向强迫振荡圆柱绕流中的应用

利用紧致插值曲线(constrained interpolation profile method in Zhejiang University, CIP-ZJU) 数学模型, 对低科勒冈-卡朋特(Keulegan–Carpenter) 数KC 静止流体中振荡圆柱以及雷诺数Re = 200 时流向强迫振荡圆柱绕流进行了数值模拟. 模型在直角坐标系统下建立, 采用紧致插值曲线方法作为流场的基本求解器离散了纳维-斯托克斯方程, 基于多相流的理论实现流固耦合同步求解, 利用浸入边界方法处理固体边界. 模拟结果与现有文献结果进行比较, 二者吻合情况较好, 验证了此方法对于计算复杂流动问题的可靠性.