Investigation of two‐dimensional channel flow with a partially compliant wall using finite volume–finite difference approach

This paper presents a numerical simulation of steady two‐dimensional channel flow with a partially compliant wall. Navier–Stokes equation is solved using an unstructured finite volume method (FVM). The deformation of the compliant wall is determined by solving a membrane equation using finite difference method (FDM). The membrane equation and Navier–Stokes equation are coupled iteratively to determine the shape of the membrane and the flow field. A spring analogy smoothing technique is applied to the deformed mesh to ensure good mesh quality throughout the computing procedure. Numerical results obtained in the present simulation match well with that in the literature. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A compact finite difference method on staggered grid for Navier–Stokes flows

Compact finite difference methods feature high‐order accuracy with smaller stencils and easier application of boundary conditions, and have been employed as an alternative to spectral methods in direct numerical simulation and large eddy simulation of turbulence. The underpinning idea of the method is to cancel lower‐order errors by treating spatial Taylor expansions implicitly. Recently, some attention has been paid to conservative compact finite volume methods on staggered grid, but there is a concern about the order of accuracy after replacing cell surface integrals by average values calculated at centres of cell surfaces. Here we introduce a high‐order compact finite difference method on staggered grid, without taking integration by parts. The method is implemented and assessed for an incompressible shear‐driven cavity flow at Re = 10³, a temporally periodic flow at Re = 10⁴, and a spatially periodic flow at Re = 10⁴. The results demonstrate the success of the method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of single‐ and two‐phase flows on sliding unstructured meshes using finite volume method

The paper presents an efficient finite volume method for unstructured grids with rotating sliding parts composed of arbitrary polyhedral elements for both single‐ and two‐phase flows. Mathematical model used in computations is based on the ensemble averaged conservation equations. These equations are solved for each phase and in case of single‐phase flow reduce to the transient Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes (TRANS) equations. Transient flow induced by rotating impellers is thus resolved in time. The use of unstructured grids allows an easy and flexible meshing for the entire flow domain. Polyhedral cell volumes are created on the arbitrary mesh interface placed between rotating and static parts. Cells within the rotating parts move each time step and the new faces are created on the arbitrary interfaces only, while the rest of the domain remain ‘topologically’ unchanged. Implicit discretization scheme allows a wide range of time‐step sizes, which further reduce the computational effort. Special attention is given to the interpolation practices used for the reconstruction of the face quantities. Mass fluxes are recalculated at the beginning of each time step by using an interpolation scheme, which enhances the coupling between the pressure and velocity fields. The model has been implemented into the commercially available CFD code AVL SWIFT (AVL AST, SWIFT Manual 3.1, AVL List GmbH, Graz, Austria, 2002). Single‐phase flow in a mixing vessel stirred by a six‐bladed Rushton‐type turbine and two‐phase flow in aerated stirred vessel with the four‐blade Rushton impeller are simulated. The results are compared with the available experimental data, and good agreement is observed. The proposed algorithm is proved to be both stable and accurate for single‐phase as well as for the two‐phase flows calculations. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

SIMPLE‐type preconditioners for cell‐centered,colocated finite volume discretization of incompressible Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations

This paper contains a comparison of four SIMPLE‐type methods used as solver and as preconditioner for the iterative solution of the (Reynolds‐averaged) Navier–Stokes equations, discretized with a finite volume method for cell‐centered, colocated variables on unstructured grids. A matrix‐free implementation is presented, and special attention is given to the treatment of the stabilization matrix to maintain a compact stencil suitable for unstructured grids. We find SIMPLER preconditioning to be robust and efficient for academic test cases and industrial test cases. Compared with the classical SIMPLE solver, SIMPLER preconditioning reduces the number of nonlinear iterations by a factor 5–20 and the CPU time by a factor 2–5 depending on the case. The flow around a ship hull at Reynolds number 2E9, for example, on a grid with cell aspect ratio up to 1:1E6, can be computed in 3 instead of 15 h.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of super compact finite difference method and application to simulation of vortex–shock interaction

Turbulence and aeroacoustic noise high‐order accurate schemes are required, and preferred, for solving complex flow fields with multi‐scale structures. In this paper a super compact finite difference method (SCFDM) is presented, the accuracy is analysed and the method is compared with a sixth‐order traditional and compact finite difference approximation. The comparison shows that the sixth‐order accurate super compact method has higher resolving efficiency. The sixth‐order super compact method, with a three‐stage Runge–Kutta method for approximation of the compressible Navier–Stokes equations, is used to solve the complex flow structures induced by vortex–shock interactions. The basic nature of the near‐field sound generated by interaction is studied. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A spectral–finite difference solution of the Navier–Stokes equations in three dimensions

A new computational code for the numerical integration of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations in their non-dimensional velocity–pressure formulation is presented. The system of non-linear partial differential equations governing the time-dependent flow of a viscous incompressible fluid in a channel is managed by means of a mixed spectral–finite difference method, in which different numerical techniques are applied: Fourier decomposition is used along the homogeneous directions, second-order Crank–Nicolson algorithms are employed for the spatial derivatives in the direction orthogonal to the solid walls and a fourth-order Runge–Kutta procedure is implemented for both the calculation of the convective term and the time advancement. The pressure problem, cast in the Helmholtz form, is solved with the use of a cyclic reduction procedure. No-slip boundary conditions are used at the walls of the channel and cyclic conditions are imposed at the other boundaries of the computing domain. Results are provided for different values of the Reynolds number at several time steps of integration and are compared with results obtained by other authors. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical solution of three‐dimensional velocity–vorticity Navier–Stokes equations by finite difference method

This paper describes the finite difference numerical procedure for solving velocity–vorticity form of the Navier–Stokes equations in three dimensions. The velocity Poisson equations are made parabolic using the false‐transient technique and are solved along with the vorticity transport equations. The parabolic velocity Poisson equations are advanced in time using the alternating direction implicit (ADI) procedure and are solved along with the continuity equation for velocities, thus ensuring a divergence‐free velocity field. The vorticity transport equations in conservative form are solved using the second‐order accurate Adams–Bashforth central difference scheme in order to assure divergence‐free vorticity field in three dimensions. The velocity and vorticity Cartesian components are discretized using a central difference scheme on a staggered grid for accuracy reasons. The application of the ADI procedure for the parabolic velocity Poisson equations along with the continuity equation results in diagonally dominant tri‐diagonal matrix equations. Thus the explicit method for the vorticity equations and the tri‐diagonal matrix algorithm for the Poisson equations combine to give a simplified numerical scheme for solving three‐dimensional problems, which otherwise requires enormous computational effort. For three‐dimensional‐driven cavity flow predictions, the present method is found to be efficient and accurate for the Reynolds number range 100?Re?2000. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Taylor series‐based finite volume method for the Navier–Stokes equations

A Taylor series‐based finite volume formulation has been developed to solve the Navier–Stokes equations. Within each cell, velocity and pressure are obtained from the Taylor expansion at its centre. The derivatives in the expansion are found by applying the Gauss theorem over the cell. The resultant integration over the faces of the cell is calculated from the value at the middle point of the face and its derivatives, which are further obtained from a higher order interpolation based on the values at the centres of two cells sharing this face. The terms up to second order in the velocity and the terms up to first order in pressure in the Taylor expansion are retained throughout the derivation. The test cases for channel flow, flow past a circular cylinder and flow in a collapsible channel have shown that the method is quite accurate and flexible. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with an upwind compact difference scheme

A new finite difference method for the discretization of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is presented. The scheme is constructed on a staggered‐mesh grid system. The convection terms are discretized with a fifth‐order‐accurate upwind compact difference approximation, the viscous terms are discretized with a sixth‐order symmetrical compact difference approximation, the continuity equation and the pressure gradient in the momentum equations are discretized with a fourth‐order difference approximation on a cell‐centered mesh. Time advancement uses a three‐stage Runge–Kutta method. The Poisson equation for computing the pressure is solved with preconditioning. Accuracy analysis shows that the new method has high resolving efficiency. Validation of the method by computation of Taylor's vortex array is presented. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fourth‐ and tenth‐order compact finite difference solutions of perturbed circular vortex flows

In this study, high‐order compact finite difference calculations are reported for 2D unsteady incompressible circular vortex flow in primitive variable formulation. The fourth‐order Runge–Kutta temporal discretization is used together with fourth‐ or tenth‐order compact spatial discretization. Dependent on the perturbation initially imposed, the solutions display a tripole, triangular or square vortex. The comparison of the predictions with the detailed spectral calculations of Kloosterziel and Carnevale (J. Fluid Mech. 1999; 388 :217–257) shows that the vorticity fields are very well captured. The spectral resolution of the present method was quantified from the decomposition of the vorticity distribution in its azimuthal components and compared with reported spectral results. Using identical grid resolution to the reference results yields negligible differences in the main features of the flow. The perturbation amplitude and its first harmonic are virtually identical to the reference results for both fourth‐ or tenth‐order spatial discretization, as theoretically expected but seldom a posteriori verified. The differences between the two spatial discretizations appear only for coarser grids, favouring the tenth‐order discretization. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global linear stability analysis of time‐averaged flows

The global linear stability analysis (LSA) of stationary/steady flows has been applied to various flows in the past and is fairly well understood. The LSA of time‐averaged flows is explored in this paper. It is shown that the LSA of time‐averaged flows can result in useful information regarding its stability. The method is applied to study flow past a cylinder at Reynolds number (Re) beyond the onset of vortex shedding. Compared with the direct numerical simulation, LSA of the Re=100 steady flow severely underpredicts the vortex shedding frequency. However, the LSA of the time‐averaged flow results in the correct value of the non‐dimensional frequency, St, of the associated instability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust semidirect finite difference methods for solving the Navier–Stokes and energy equations

Semidirect solution techniques can be an effective alternative to the more conventional iterative approaches used in many finite difference methods. This paper summarizes several semidirect techniques which generally have not been applied to the Navier–Stokes and energy equations in finite difference form. The methods presented use both successive substitution and Jacobian-based updates as well as two variations of Broyden's full matrix update. A hybrid method is also presented, as is a norm-reducing search technique that can be used to enhance the convergence characteristics of any semidirect approach. These methods have been compared with the well known iterative methods SIMPLE and SIMPLER. The comparison was performed on the natural convection and driven cavity problems. The semidirect methods proved to be reliably convergent without the need for a priori specification of variable under-relaxation factors, which was necessary with the iterative methods. Natural convection and driven cavity solutions have been readily obtained with the proposed methods for Rayleigh and Reynolds numbers up to 10⁹ and 10⁶ respectively. Of the semidirect techniques, the hybrid approach was the most robust. From an arbitrary zero initial guess this method was able to obtain a solution to the natural convection problem for Rayleigh numbers three orders of magnitude larger than was possible with the Newton-Raphson update. The computational effort required by the semidirect methods is comparable to that required by the iterative methods; however, the memory requirements can be significantly greater.     

A stabilized finite element method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using a hierarchical basis

Stabilized finite element methods have been shown to yield robust, accurate numerical solutions to both the compressible and incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for laminar and turbulent flows. The present work focuses on the application of higher‐order, hierarchical basis functions to the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using a stabilized finite element method. It is shown on a variety of problems that the most cost‐effective simulations (in terms of CPU time, memory, and disk storage) can be obtained using higher‐order basis functions when compared with the traditional linear basis. In addition, algorithms will be presented for the efficient implementation of these methods within the traditional finite element data structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of flows around two circular cylinders by mesh‐free least square‐based finite difference methods

In this paper, the mesh‐free least square‐based finite difference (MLSFD) method is applied to numerically study the flow field around two circular cylinders arranged in side‐by‐side and tandem configurations. For each configuration, various geometrical arrangements are considered, in order to reveal the different flow regimes characterized by the gap between the two cylinders. In this work, the flow simulations are carried out in the low Reynolds number range, that is, Re=100 and 200. Instantaneous vorticity contours and streamlines around the two cylinders are used as the visualization aids. Some flow parameters such as Strouhal number, drag and lift coefficients calculated from the solution are provided and quantitatively compared with those provided by other researchers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two‐level finite element method with a stabilizing subgrid for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

We consider the Galerkin finite element method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in two dimensions. 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 finite element method with a stabilizing subgrid of a single node is described, and its application to the Navier–Stokes equation is displayed. Numerical approximations employing the proposed algorithm are presented for three benchmark problems. The results show that the proper choice of the subgrid node is crucial in obtaining stable and accurate numerical approximations consistent with the physical configuration of the problem at a cheap computational cost. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

A method for obtaining benchmark Navier–Stokes solutions

A refinement to an established method for obtaining benchmark Navier–Stokes solutions is presented. Pressure and body forces are derived explicitly such that the momentum equations are satisfied. The problem is reduced to determining a streamfunction in separation of variables form that describes a desired flow pattern. Examples based upon the well‐known shear flow cavity are presented. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multigrid solution of the Navier–Stokes equations on highly stretched grids

Relaxation-based multigrid solvers for the steady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations are examined to determine their computational speed and robustness. Four relaxation methods were used as smoothers in a common tailored multigrid procedure. The resulting solvers were applied to three two-dimensional flow problems, over a range of Reynolds numbers, on both uniform and highly stretched grids. In all cases the L₂ norm of the velocity changes is reduced to 10^?6 in a few 10's of fine-grid sweeps. The results of the study are used to draw conciusions on the strengths and weaknesses of the individual relaxation methods as well as those of the overall multigrid procedure when used as a solver on highly stretched grids.