Spectral element method for viscoelastic flows in a planar contraction channel

A new algorithm, which combines the spectral element method with elastic viscous splitting stress (EVSS) method, has been developed for viscoelastic fluid flows in a planar contraction channel. The system of spectral element approximations to the velocity, pressure, extra stress and the rate of deformation variables is solved by a preconditioned conjugate gradient method based on the Uzawa iteration procedure. The numerical approach is implemented on a planar four‐to‐one contraction channel for a fluid governed by an Oldroyd‐B constitutive equation. The behaviour of the Oldroyd‐B fluids in the contraction channel is investigated with various Weissenberg numbers. It is shown that numerical solutions obtained here agree well with experimental measurements and other numerical predictions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybrid finite element/volume method for 3D incompressible flows with heat transfer

An implicit hybrid finite element (FE)/volume solver has been extended to incompressible flows coupled with the energy equation. The solver is based on the segregated pressure correction or projection method on staggered unstructured hybrid meshes. An intermediate velocity field is first obtained by solving the momentum equations with the matrix-free implicit cell-centred finite volume (FV) method. The pressure Poisson equation is solved by the node-based Galerkin FE method for an auxiliary variable. The auxiliary variable is used to update the velocity field and the pressure field. The pressure field is carefully updated by taking into account the velocity divergence field. Our current staggered-mesh scheme is distinct from other conventional ones in that we store the velocity components at cell centres and the auxiliary variable at vertices. The Generalized Minimal Residual (GMRES) matrix-free strategy is adapted to solve the governing equations in both FE and FV methods. The presented 2D and 3D numerical examples show the robustness and accuracy of the numerical method.     

A control volume finite element method for three-dimensional three-phase flows

A novel control volume finite element method with adaptive anisotropic unstructured meshes is presented for three-dimensional three-phase flows with interfacial tension. The numerical framework consists of a mixed control volume and finite element formulation with a new P₁DG-P₂ elements (linear discontinuous velocity between elements and quadratic continuous pressure between elements). A “volume of fluid” type method is used for the interface capturing, which is based on compressive control volume advection and second-order finite element methods. A force-balanced continuum surface force model is employed for the interfacial tension on unstructured meshes. The interfacial tension coefficient decomposition method is also used to deal with interfacial tension pairings between different phases. Numerical examples of benchmark tests and the dynamics of three-dimensional three-phase rising bubble, and droplet impact are presented. The results are compared with the analytical solutions and previously published experimental data, demonstrating the capability of the present method.     

Development of an optimal hybrid finite volume/element method for viscoelastic flows

A cell‐vertex hybrid finite volume/element method is investigated that is implemented on triangles and applied to the numerical solution of Oldroyd model fluids in contraction flows. Particular attention is paid to establishing high‐order accuracy, whilst retaining favourable stability properties. Elevated levels of elasticity are sought. The main impact of this study reveals that switching from quadratic to linear finite volume stress representation with discontinuous stress gradients, and incorporating local reduced quadrature at the re‐entrant corner, provide enhance stability properties. Solution smoothness is achieved by adopting the non‐conservative flux form with area integration, by appealing to quadratic recovered velocity‐gradients, and through consistency considerations in the treatment of the time term in the constitutive equation. In this manner, high‐order accuracy is maintained, stability is ensured, and the finer features of the flow are confirmed via mesh refinement. Lip vortices are observed for We>1, and a trailing‐edge vortex is also apparent. Loss of evolution and solution asymptotic behaviour towards the re‐entrant corner are also discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a hybrid finite volume/element solver for incompressible flows

In this paper, we report our development of an implicit hybrid flow solver for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The methodology is based on the pressure correction or projection method. A fractional step approach is used to obtain an intermediate velocity field by solving the original momentum equations with the matrix‐free implicit cell‐centred finite volume method. The Poisson equation derived from the fractional step approach is solved by the node‐based Galerkin finite element method for an auxiliary variable. The auxiliary variable is closely related to the real pressure and is used to update the velocity field and the pressure field. We store the velocity components at cell centres and the auxiliary variable at cell vertices, making the current solver a staggered‐mesh scheme. Numerical examples demonstrate the performance of the resulting hybrid scheme, such as the correct temporal convergence rates for both velocity and pressure, absence of unphysical pressure boundary layer, good convergence in steady‐state simulations and capability in predicting accurate drag, lift and Strouhal number in the flow around a circular cylinder. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transient solutions for three-dimensional lid-driven cavity flows by a least-squares finite element method

A time-accurate least-squares finite element method is used to simulate three-dimensional flows in a cubic cavity with a uniform moving top. The time- accurate solutions are obtained by the Crank-Nicolson method for time integration and Newton linearization for the convective terms with extensive linearization steps. A matrix-free algorithm of the Jacobi conjugate gradient method is used to solve the symmetric, positive definite linear system of equations. To show that the least-squares finite element method with the Jacobi conjugate gradient technique has promising potential to provide implicit, fully coupled and time-accurate solutions to large-scale three-dimensional fluid flows, we present results for three-dimensional lid-driven flows in a cubic cavity for Reynolds numbers up to 3200.     

A finite element for incompressible plane flows of fluids with memory

Flows of fluids with single-integral memory functionals are considered. Evaluation of the stress at a material point involves the deformation history of that point, and a dominant computational cost in finite element approximation is the construction of streamlines. It is shown that the simple crossed-triangle macro-element is in many ways an ideal finite element for the difficult non-linear, non-self-adjoint problem. The question as to whether this element produces convergent velocity and pressure solutions is addressed in the light of its failure to satisfy the discrete LBB condition. The effect of the element's ill-disposed (‘spurious’) pressure modes is discussed, and a pressure smoothing scheme is given which gives good results in Newtonian and non-Newtonian flows at various Reynolds and Deborah numbers. As an example of the element's success in modelling such flows, the problem of pressure differences in flows over transverse slots is studied numerically. The results are compared with experimental observations of such flows. The effect of fluid memory on the relation between first normal-stress differences and pressure differences is investigated.     

A hybrid finite volume/finite element method for incompressible generalized Newtonian fluid flows on unstructured triangular meshes

This paper presents a hybrid finite volume/finite element method for the incompressible generalized Newtonian fluid flow （Power-Law model）. The collocated （i.e. non-staggered） arrangement of variables is used on the unstructured triangular grids, and a fractional step projection method is applied for the velocity-pressure coupling. The cell-centered finite volume method is employed to discretize the momentum equation and the vertex-based finite element for the pressure Poisson equation. The momentum interpolation method is used to suppress unphysical pressure wiggles. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the current hybrid scheme has second order accuracy in both space and time. Results on flows in the lid-driven cavity and between parallel walls for Newtonian and Power-Law models are also in good agreement with the published solutions.     

A hybrid vertex-centered finite volume/element method for viscous incompressible flows on non-staggered unstructured meshes

This paper proposes a hybrid vertex-centered finite volume/finite element method for solution of the two dimensional (2D) incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured grids.An incremental pressure fractional step method is adopted to handle the velocity-pressure coupling.The velocity and the pressure are collocated at the node of the vertex-centered control volume which is formed by joining the centroid of cells sharing the common vertex.For the temporal integration of the momentum equations,an implicit second-order scheme is utilized to enhance the computational stability and eliminate the time step limit due to the diffusion term.The momentum equations are discretized by the vertex-centered finite volume method (FVM) and the pressure Poisson equation is solved by the Galerkin finite element method (FEM).The momentum interpolation is used to damp out the spurious pressure wiggles.The test case with analytical solutions demonstrates second-order accuracy of the current hybrid scheme in time and space for both velocity and pressure.The classic test cases,the lid-driven cavity flow,the skew cavity flow and the backward-facing step flow,show that numerical results are in good agreement with the published benchmark solutions.     

Consistent hybrid finite volume/element formulations: model and complex viscoelastic flows

The accuracy and consistency of a new cell‐vertex hybrid finite element/volume scheme are investigated for viscoelastic flows. Finite element (FE) discretization is employed for the momentum and continuity equation, with finite volume (FV) applied to the constitutive law for stress. Here, the interest is to explore the consequences of utilizing conventional cell‐vertex methodology for an Oldroyd‐B model and to demonstrate resulting drawbacks in the presence of complex source terms on structured and unstructured grids. Alternative strategies worthy of consideration are presented. It is demonstrated how high‐order accuracy may be achieved in steady state by respecting consistency in the formulation. Both FE and FV spatial discretizations are embedded in the scheme, with FV triangular sub‐cells referenced within parent triangular finite elements. Both model and complex flow problems are selected to quantify and assess accuracy, appealing to analysis and experimental validation. The test problem is that of steady sink flow, a pure extensional flow, which reflects some of the numerical difficulties involved in solving more generalized viscoelastic flows, where both source and flux terms may contribute equally to stress propagation. In addition, a complex transient filament‐stretching flow is chosen to compute the evolution of stress fields within liquid bridges. Shortcomings of the various stress upwinding schemes are discussed in this context, whilst dealing with such free‐surface type problems. Here, stress fluctuation distribution alone is advocated, and a Lax‐scheme is found to deliver accuracy and stability to the computational results, comparing well with the literature. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stabilized finite element method for flows with multiple reference frames

We present a space‐time finite element method capable of dealing with flows in multiple co‐rotating reference frames. Since equal order interpolation is used for all degrees of freedom, Galerkin/least‐squares stabilization is applied. We give a detailed derivation of the equations involved, introduce the variational form, present the stabilization parameters, and also discuss implementation issues. Numerical examples in 2D and 3D show generality and efficiency of the method, if steady‐state behavior of rotating components is sufficient for the CFD analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introduction of turbulent model in a mixed finite volume/finite element method

The aim of this work is to present a new numerical method to compute turbulent flows in complex configurations. With this in view, a k-? model with wall functions has been introduced in a mixed finite volume/finite element method. The numerical method has been developed to deal with compressible flows but is also able to compute nearly incompressible flows. The physical model and the numerical method are first described, then validation results for an incompressible flow over a backward-facing step and for a supersonic flow over a compression ramp are presented. Comparisons are performed with experimental data and with other numerical results. These simulations show the ability of the present method to predict turbulent flows, and this method will be applied to simulate complex industrial flows (flow inside the combustion chamber of gas turbine engines). The main goal of this paper is not to test turbulence models, but to show that this numerical method is a solid base to introduce more sophisticated turbulence model.     

A mixed‐interpolation finite element method for incompressible thermal flows of electrically conducting fluids

A new mixed‐interpolation finite element method is presented for the two‐dimensional numerical simulation of incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows which involve convective heat transfer. The proposed method applies the nodal shape functions, which are locally defined in nine‐node elements, for the discretization of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations, and the vector shape functions, which are locally defined in four‐node elements, for the discretization of the electromagnetic field equations. The use of the vector shape functions allows the solenoidal condition on the magnetic field to be automatically satisfied in each four‐node element. In addition, efficient approximation procedures for the calculation of the integrals in the discretized equations are adopted to achieve high‐speed computation. With the use of the proposed numerical scheme, MHD channel flow and MHD natural convection under a constant applied magnetic field are simulated at different Hartmann numbers. The accuracy and robustness of the method are verified through these numerical tests in which both undistorted and distorted meshes are employed for comparison of numerical solutions. Furthermore, it is shown that the calculation speed for the proposed scheme is much higher compared with that for a conventional numerical integration scheme under the condition of almost the same memory consumption. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A moving discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for flows with interfaces

A moving discontinuous Galerkin finite element method with interface condition enforcement is formulated for flows with discontinuous interfaces. The underlying weak formulation enforces the interface condition separately from the conservation law, so that the residual only vanishes upon satisfaction of both. In this formulation, the discrete grid geometry is treated as a variable, so that, in contrast to the standard discontinuous Galerkin method, this method has both the means to detect interfaces, via interface condition enforcement, and to satisfy, via grid movement, the conservation law and its associated interface condition. The method therefore directly fits interfaces, including shocks, preserving a high-order representation up to the interface without requiring shock capturing or an upwind numerical flux to achieve stability. It can be generalized to flows with a priori unknown interfaces with nontrivial topology and curved interface geometry as well as to an arbitrary number of spatial dimensions. Unsteady flows are represented in a manner similar to steady flows using a space-time formulation. In addition to computing flows with interfaces, the method can represent point singularities in a flow field by degenerating cuboid elements. In general, the method works in conjunction with standard local grid operations, including edge collapse, to ensure that degenerate cells are removed. Test cases are presented for up to three-dimensional flows that provide an initial assessment of the stability and accuracy of the method.     

A finite difference method for elastic wave scattering by a planar crack with contacting faces

This paper presents a finite difference time-domain technique for 2D problems of elastic wave scattering by cracks with interacting faces. The proposed technique introduces cracks into the finite difference model using a set of split computational nodes. The split-node pair is bound together when the crack is closed while the nodes move freely when open, thereby a unilateral contact condition is considered. The development of the open/close status is determined by solving the equation of motion so as to yield a non-negative crack opening displacement. To check validity of the proposed scheme, 1D and 2D scattering problems for which exact solutions are known are solved numerically. The 1D problem demonstrates accuracy and stability of the scheme in the presence of the crack-face interaction. The 2D problem, in which the crack-face interaction is not considered, shows that the proposed scheme can properly reproduce the stress singularity at the tip of the crack. Finally, scattered fields from cracks with interacting faces are investigated assuming a stick and a frictionless contact conditions. In particular, the directivity and higher-harmonics are investigated in conjunction with the pre-stress since those are the basic information required for a successful ultrasonic testing of closed cracks.     

A hybrid scheme based on finite element/volume methods for two immiscible fluid flows

We have successfully extended our implicit hybrid finite element/volume (FE/FV) solver to flows involving two immiscible fluids. The solver is based on the segregated pressure correction or projection method on staggered unstructured hybrid meshes. An intermediate velocity field is first obtained by solving the momentum equations with the matrix‐free implicit cell‐centered FV method. The pressure Poisson equation is solved by the node‐based Galerkin FE method for an auxiliary variable. The auxiliary variable is used to update the velocity field and the pressure field. The pressure field is carefully updated by taking into account the velocity divergence field. This updating strategy can be rigorously proven to be able to eliminate the unphysical pressure boundary layer and is crucial for the correct temporal convergence rate. Our current staggered‐mesh scheme is distinct from other conventional ones in that we store the velocity components at cell centers and the auxiliary variable at vertices. The fluid interface is captured by solving an advection equation for the volume fraction of one of the fluids. The same matrix‐free FV method, as the one used for momentum equations, is used to solve the advection equation. We will focus on the interface sharpening strategy to minimize the smearing of the interface over time. We have developed and implemented a global mass conservation algorithm that enforces the conservation of the mass for each fluid. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A least-squares finite element method for time-dependent incompressible flows with thermal convection

The time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations and the energy balance equation for an incompressible, constant property fluid in the Boussinesq approximation are solved by a least-squares finite element method based on a velocity–pressure–vorticity–temperature–heat-flux ( u –P–ω–T– q ) formulation discretized by backward finite differencing in time. The discretization scheme leads to the minimization of the residual in the l²-norm for each time step. Isoparametric bilinear quadrilateral elements and reduced integration are employed. Three examples, thermally driven cavity flow at Rayleigh numbers up to 10⁶, lid-driven cavity flow at Reynolds numbers up to 10⁴ and flow over a square obstacle at Reynolds number 200, are presented to validate the method.     

A coupled continuous and discontinuous finite element method for the incompressible flows

In this paper, we develop a coupled continuous Galerkin and discontinuous Galerkin finite element method based on a split scheme to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. In order to use the equal order interpolation functions for velocity and pressure, we decouple the original Navier–Stokes equations and obtain three distinct equations through the split method, which are nonlinear hyperbolic, elliptic, and Helmholtz equations, respectively. The hybrid method combines the merits of discontinuous Galerkin (DG) and finite element method (FEM). Therefore, DG is concerned to accomplish the spatial discretization of the nonlinear hyperbolic equation to avoid using the stabilization approaches that appeared in FEM. Moreover, FEM is utilized to deal with the Poisson and Helmholtz equations to reduce the computational cost compared with DG. As for the temporal discretization, a second‐order stiffly stable approach is employed. Several typical benchmarks, namely, the Poiseuille flow, the backward‐facing step flow, and the flow around the cylinder with a wide range of Reynolds numbers, are considered to demonstrate and validate the feasibility, accuracy, and efficiency of this coupled method. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A finite element method for computing the flow of multi-mode viscoelastic fluids: comparison with experiments

The numerical computation of viscoelastic fluid flows with differential constitutive equations presents various difficulties. The first one lies in the numerical convergence of the complex numerical scheme solving the non-linear set of equations. Due to the hybrid type of these equations (elliptic and hyperbolic), geometrical singularities such as reentrant corner or die induce stress singularities and hence numerical problems. Another difficulty is the choice of an appropriate constitutive equation and the determination of rheological constants. In this paper, a quasi-Newton method is developed for a fluid obeying a multi-mode Phan-Thien and Tanner constitutive equation. A confined convergent geometry followed by the extrudate swell has been considered. Numerical results obtained for two-dimensional or axisymmetric flows are compared to experimental results (birefringence patterns or extrudate swell) for a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and a low density polyethylene (LDPE).