An implicit high-order hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

We present an implicit high-order hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method for the steady-state and time-dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The method is devised by using the discontinuous Galerkin discretization for a velocity gradient-pressure–velocity formulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with a special choice of the numerical traces. The method possesses several unique features which distinguish itself from other discontinuous Galerkin methods. First, it reduces the globally coupled unknowns to the approximate trace of the velocity and the mean of the pressure on element boundaries, thereby leading to a significant reduction in the degrees of freedom. Moreover, if the augmented Lagrangian method is used to solve the linearized system, the globally coupled unknowns become the approximate trace of the velocity only. Second, it provides, for smooth viscous-dominated problems, approximations of the velocity, pressure, and velocity gradient which converge with the optimal order of k + 1 in the L²-norm, when polynomials of degree k?0 are used for all components of the approximate solution. And third, it displays superconvergence properties that allow us to use the above-mentioned optimal convergence properties to define an element-by-element postprocessing scheme to compute a new and better approximate velocity. Indeed, this new approximation is exactly divergence-free, H (div)-conforming, and converges with order k + 2 for k ? 1 and with order 1 for k = 0 in the L²-norm. Moreover, a novel and systematic way is proposed for imposing boundary conditions for the stress, viscous stress, vorticity and pressure which are not naturally associated with the weak formulation of the method. This can be done on different parts of the boundary and does not result in the degradation of the optimal order of convergence properties of the method. Extensive numerical results are presented to demonstrate the convergence and accuracy properties of the method for a wide range of Reynolds numbers and for various polynomial degrees.     

A multi-block ADI finite-volume method for incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries

An efficient second-order accurate finite-volume method is developed for a solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on complex multi-block structured curvilinear grids. Unlike in the finite-volume or finite-difference-based alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) methods, where factorization of the coordinate transformed governing equations is performed along generalized coordinate directions, in the proposed method, the discretized Cartesian form Navier–Stokes equations are factored along curvilinear grid lines. The new ADI finite-volume method is also extended for simulations on multi-block structured curvilinear grids with which complex geometries can be efficiently resolved. The numerical method is first developed for an unsteady convection–diffusion equation, then is extended for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The order of accuracy and stability characteristics of the present method are analyzed in simulations of an unsteady convection–diffusion problem, decaying vortices, flow in a lid-driven cavity, flow over a circular cylinder, and turbulent flow through a planar channel. Numerical solutions predicted by the proposed ADI finite-volume method are found to be in good agreement with experimental and other numerical data, while the solutions are obtained at much lower computational cost than those required by other iterative methods without factorization. For a simulation on a grid with O(10⁵) cells, the computational time required by the present ADI-based method for a solution of momentum equations is found to be less than 20% of that required by a method employing a biconjugate-gradient-stabilized scheme.     

A low numerical dissipation immersed interface method for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations

A numerical method to solve the compressible Navier–Stokes equations around objects of arbitrary shape using Cartesian grids is described. The approach considered here uses an embedded geometry representation of the objects and approximate the governing equations with a low numerical dissipation centered finite-difference discretization. The method is suitable for compressible flows without shocks and can be classified as an immersed interface method. The objects are sharply captured by the Cartesian mesh by appropriately adapting the discretization stencils around the irregular grid nodes, located around the boundary. In contrast with available methods, no jump conditions are used or explicitly derived from the boundary conditions, although a number of elements are adopted from previous immersed interface approaches. A new element in the present approach is the use of the summation-by-parts formalism to develop stable non-stiff first-order derivative approximations at the irregular grid points. Second-order derivative approximations, as those appearing in the transport terms, can be stiff when irregular grid points are located too close to the boundary. This is addressed using a semi-implicit time integration method. Moreover, it is shown that the resulting implicit equations can be solved explicitly in the case of constant transport properties. Convergence studies are performed for a rotating cylinder and vortex shedding behind objects of varying shapes at different Mach and Reynolds numbers.     

A cell-centered adaptive projection method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in three dimensions

We present a method for computing incompressible viscous flows in three dimensions using block-structured local refinement in both space and time. This method uses a projection formulation based on a cell-centered approximate projection, combined with the systematic use of multilevel elliptic solvers to compute increments in the solution generated at boundaries between refinement levels due to refinement in time. We use an L₀-stable second-order semi-implicit scheme to evaluate the viscous terms. Results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of this approach.     

A Relaxed Dimensional Factorization preconditioner for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

In this paper we introduce a Relaxed Dimensional Factorization (RDF) preconditioner for saddle point problems. Properties of the preconditioned matrix are analyzed and compared with those of the closely related Dimensional Splitting (DS) preconditioner recently introduced by Benzi and Guo [7]. Numerical results for a variety of finite element discretizations of both steady and unsteady incompressible flow problems indicate very good behavior of the RDF preconditioner with respect to both mesh size and viscosity.     

An accurate and efficient method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using the projection method as a preconditioner

The projection method is a widely used fractional-step algorithm for solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Despite numerous improvements to the methodology, however, imposing physical boundary conditions with projection-based fluid solvers remains difficult, and obtaining high-order accuracy may not be possible for some choices of boundary conditions. In this work, we present an unsplit, linearly-implicit discretization of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on a staggered grid along with an efficient solution method for the resulting system of linear equations. Since our scheme is not a fractional-step algorithm, it is straightforward to specify general physical boundary conditions accurately; however, this capability comes at the price of having to solve the time-dependent incompressible Stokes equations at each timestep. To solve this linear system efficiently, we employ a Krylov subspace method preconditioned by the projection method. In our implementation, the subdomain solvers required by the projection preconditioner employ the conjugate gradient method with geometric multigrid preconditioning. The accuracy of the scheme is demonstrated for several problems, including forced and unforced analytic test cases and lid-driven cavity flows. These tests consider a variety of physical boundary conditions with Reynolds numbers ranging from 1 to 30000. The effectiveness of the projection preconditioner is compared to an alternative preconditioning strategy based on an approximation to the Schur complement for the time-dependent incompressible Stokes operator. The projection method is found to be a more efficient preconditioner in most cases considered in the present work.     

Compact fourth-order finite volume method for numerical solutions of Navier–Stokes equations on staggered grids

The development of a compact fourth-order finite volume method for solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations on staggered grids is presented. A special attention is given to the conservation laws on momentum control volumes. A higher-order divergence-free interpolation for convective velocities is developed which ensures a perfect conservation of mass and momentum on momentum control volumes. Three forms of the nonlinear correction for staggered grids are proposed and studied. The accuracy of each approximation is assessed comparatively in Fourier space. The importance of higher-order approximations of pressure is discussed and numerically demonstrated. Fourth-order accuracy of the complete scheme is illustrated by the doubly-periodic shear layer and the instability of plane-channel flow. The efficiency of the scheme is demonstrated by a grid dependency study of turbulent channel flows by means of direct numerical simulations. The proposed scheme is highly accurate and efficient. At the same level of accuracy, the fourth-order scheme can be ten times faster than the second-order counterpart. This gain in efficiency can be spent on a higher resolution for more accurate solutions at a lower cost.     

A 6th order staggered compact finite difference method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes and scalar transport equations

In a previous paper we have developed a staggered compact finite difference method for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations. In this paper we will extend this method to the case of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. In an incompressible flow conservation of mass is ensured by the well known pressure correction method  and . The advection and diffusion terms are discretized with 6th order spatial accuracy. The discrete Poisson equation, which has to be solved in the pressure correction step, has the same spatial accuracy as the advection and diffusion operators. The equations are integrated in time with a third order Adams–Bashforth method. Results are presented for a 1D advection–diffusion equation, a 2D lid driven cavity at a Reynolds number of 1000 and 10,000 and finally a 3D fully developed turbulent duct flow at a bulk Reynolds number of 5400. In all cases the methods show excellent agreement with analytical and other numerical and experimental work.     

A differentially interpolated direct forcing immersed boundary method for predicting incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in time-varying complex geometries

A dispersion-relation-preserving dual-compact scheme developed in Cartesian grids is applied together with the immersed boundary method to solve the flow equations in irregular and time-varying domains. The artificial momentum forcing term applied at certain points in cells containing fluid and solid allows an imposition of velocity condition to account for the motion of solid body. We develop in this study a differential-based interpolation scheme which can be easily extended to three-dimensional simulation. The results simulated from the proposed immersed boundary method agree well with other numerical and experimental results for the chosen benchmark problems. The accuracy and fidelity of the IB flow solver developed to predict flows with irregular boundaries are therefore demonstrated.     

An efficient multi-scale Poisson solver for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with immersed boundaries

The iterative-multi-scale-finite-volume (IMSFV) procedure is applied as an efficient solver for the pressure Poisson equation arising in numerical methods for the simulation of incompressible flows with the immersed-interface method (IIM). Motivated by the requirements of the specific IIM implementation, a modified version of the IMSFV algorithm is presented to allow the solution of problems, in which the varying coefficient of the elliptic equation (e.g. the permeability of the medium in the context of the simulation of flows in porous media) varies over several orders of magnitude or even becomes zero within the integration domain. Furthermore, a strategy is proposed to incorporate the iterative procedure needed by the IIM to converge out constraints at immersed boundaries into the iterative IMSFV cycle. No significant deterioration of performance of the IMSFV method is observed with respect to cases, in which no iterative improvement of the boundary conditions is considered.     

Conservative integral form of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for a rapidly pitching airfoil

This study provides a simple moving-grid scheme which is based on a modified conservative form of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for flow around a moving rigid body. The modified integral form is conservative and seeks the solution of the absolute velocity. This approach is different from previous conservative differential forms [1], [2], [3] whose reference frame is not inertial. Keeping the reference frame being inertial results in simpler mathematical derivation to the governing equation which includes one dyadic product of velocity vectors in the convective term, whereas the previous [2], [3] needs to obtain the time derivative with respect to non-inertial frames causing an additional dyadic product in the convective term. The scheme is implemented in a second-order accurate Navier–Stokes solver and maintains the order of the accuracy. After this verification, the scheme is validated for a pitching airfoil with very high frequencies. The simulation results match very well with the experimental results [4], [5], including vorticity fields and a net thrust force. This airfoil simulation also provides detailed vortical structures near the trailing edge and time-evolving aerodynamic forces that are used to investigate the mechanism of the thrust force generation and the effects of the trailing edge shape. The developed moving-grid scheme demonstrates its validity for a rapid oscillating motion.     

Analogue of the Cole-Hopf transform for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations and its application

We consider the Navier–Stokes equations written in the stream function in two dimensions and vector potentials in three dimensions, which are critical dependent variables. On this basis, we introduce an analogue of the Cole-Hopf transform, which exactly reduces the Navier–Stokes equations to the heat equations with a potential term (i.e. the nonlinear Schrödinger equation at imaginary times). The following results are obtained. (i) A regularity criterion immediately obtains as the boundedness of condition for the potential term when the equations are recast in a path-integral form by the Feynman-Kac formula. (ii) This in turn gives an additional characterisation of possible singularities for the Navier–Stokes equations. (iii) Some numerical results for the two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are presented to demonstrate how the potential term captures near-singular structures. Finally, we extend this formulation to higher dimensions, where the regularity issues are markedly open.     

A taxonomy and comparison of parallel block multi-level preconditioners for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

In recent years, considerable effort has been placed on developing efficient and robust solution algorithms for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations based on preconditioned Krylov methods. These include physics-based methods, such as SIMPLE, and purely algebraic preconditioners based on the approximation of the Schur complement. All these techniques can be represented as approximate block factorization (ABF) type preconditioners. The goal is to decompose the application of the preconditioner into simplified sub-systems in which scalable multi-level type solvers can be applied. In this paper we develop a taxonomy of these ideas based on an adaptation of a generalized approximate factorization of the Navier–Stokes system first presented in [A. Quarteroni, F. Saleri, A. Veneziani, Factorization methods for the numerical approximation of Navier–Stokes equations, Computational Methods in Applied Mechanical Engineering 188 (2000) 505–526]. This taxonomy illuminates the similarities and differences among these preconditioners and the central role played by efficient approximation of certain Schur complement operators. We then present a parallel computational study that examines the performance of these methods and compares them to an additive Schwarz domain decomposition (DD) algorithm. Results are presented for two and three-dimensional steady state problems for enclosed domains and inflow/outflow systems on both structured and unstructured meshes. The numerical experiments are performed using MPSalsa, a stabilized finite element code.     

Least-squares spectral element solution of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with adaptive refinement

Least-squares spectral element solution of steady, two-dimensional, incompressible flows are obtained by approximating velocity, pressure and vorticity variable set on Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre nodes. Constrained Approximation Method is used for h- and p-type nonconforming interfaces of quadrilateral elements. Adaptive solutions are obtained using a posteriori error estimates based on least squares functional and spectral coefficient. Effective use of p-refinement to overcome poor mass conservation drawback of least-squares formulation and successful use of h- and p-refinement together to solve problems with geometric singularities are demonstrated. Capabilities and limitations of the developed code are presented using Kovasznay flow, flow past a circular cylinder in a channel and backward facing step flow.     

The Elastoplast Discontinuous Galerkin (EDG) method for the Navier–Stokes equations

The present work details the Elastoplast (this name is a translation from the French “sparadrap”, a concept first applied by Yves Morchoisne for Spectral methods [1]) Discontinuous Galerkin (EDG) method to solve the compressible Navier–Stokes equations. This method was first presented in 2009 at the ICOSAHOM congress with some Cartesian grid applications. We focus here on unstructured grid applications for which the EDG method seems very attractive. As in the Recovery method presented by van Leer and Nomura in 2005 for diffusion, jumps across element boundaries are locally eliminated by recovering the solution on an overlapping cell. In the case of Recovery, this cell is the union of the two neighboring cells and the Galerkin basis is twice as large as the basis used for one element. In our proposed method the solution is rebuilt through an L² projection of the discontinuous interface solution on a small rectangular overlapping interface element, named Elastoplast, with an orthogonal basis of the same order as the one in the neighboring cells. Comparisons on 1D and 2D scalar diffusion problems in terms of accuracy and stability with other viscous DG schemes are first given. Then, 2D results on acoustic problems, vortex problems and boundary layer problems both on Cartesian or unstructured triangular grids illustrate stability, precision and versatility of this method.     

Beyond the Navier–Stokes equations: Burnett hydrodynamics

This work is mainly concerned with the extension of hydrodynamics beyond the Navier–Stokes equations, a regime known as Burnett hydrodynamics. The derivation of the Burnett equations is considered from several theoretical approaches. In particular we discuss the Chapman–Enskog, Grad’s method, and Truesdell’s approach for solving the Boltzmann equation. Also, their derivation using the macroscopic approach given by extended thermodynamics is mentioned. The problems and successes of these equations are discussed and some alternatives proposed to improve them are mentioned. Comparisons of the predictions coming from the Burnett equations with experiments and/or simulations are given in order to have the necessary elements to give a critical assessment of their validity and usefulness.     

An efficient compact difference scheme for solving the streamfunction formulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

Recently, a new paradigm for solving the steady Navier–Stokes equations using a streamfunction–velocity formulation was proposed by Gupta and Kalita [M.M. Gupta, J.C. Kalita, A new paradigm for solving Navier–Stokes equations: streamfunction–velocity formulation, J. Comput. Phys. 207 (2005) 52–68], which avoids difficulties inherent in the conventional streamfunction–vorticity and primitive variable formulations. It is discovered that this formulation can reached second-order accurate and obtained accuracy solutions with little additional cost for a couple of fluid flow problems.     

A stable and conservative high order multi-block method for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations

A stable and conservative high order multi-block method for the time-dependent compressible Navier–Stokes equations has been developed. Stability and conservation are proved using summation-by-parts operators, weak interface conditions and the energy method. This development makes it possible to exploit the efficiency of the high order finite difference method for non-trivial geometries. The computational results corroborate the theoretical analysis.     

A reconstructed discontinuous Galerkin method for the compressible Navier–Stokes equations on arbitrary grids

A reconstruction-based discontinuous Galerkin (RDG) method is presented for the solution of the compressible Navier–Stokes equations on arbitrary grids. The RDG method, originally developed for the compressible Euler equations, is extended to discretize viscous and heat fluxes in the Navier–Stokes equations using a so-called inter-cell reconstruction, where a smooth solution is locally reconstructed using a least-squares method from the underlying discontinuous DG solution. Similar to the recovery-based DG (rDG) methods, this reconstructed DG method eliminates the introduction of ad hoc penalty or coupling terms commonly found in traditional DG methods. Unlike rDG methods, this RDG method does not need to judiciously choose a proper form of a recovered polynomial, thus is simple, flexible, and robust, and can be used on arbitrary grids. The developed RDG method is used to compute a variety of flow problems on arbitrary meshes to demonstrate its accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and versatility. The numerical results indicate that this RDG method is able to deliver the same accuracy as the well-known Bassi–Rebay II scheme, at a half of its computing costs for the discretization of the viscous fluxes in the Navier–Stokes equations, clearly demonstrating its superior performance over the existing DG methods for solving the compressible Navier–Stokes equations.