A transient solution method for the finite element incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

A numerical procedure for solving the time-dependent, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The present method is based on a set of finite element equations of the primitive variable formulation, and a direct time integration method which has unique features in its formulation as well as in its evaluation of the contribution of external functions. Particular processes regarding the continuity conditions and the boundary conditions lead to a set of non-linear recurrence equations which represent evolution of the velocities and the pressures under the incompressibility constraint. An iteration process as to the non-linear convective terms is performed until the convergence is achieved in every integration step. Excessively artificial techniques are not introduced into the present solution procedure. Numerical examples with vortex shedding behind a rectangular cylinder are presented to illustrate the features of the proposed method. The calculated results are compared with experimental data and visualized flow fields in literature.     

A spectral method with staggered grid for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In order to solve the Navier-Stokes equations by spectral methods, we develop an algorithm using a staggered grid to compute the pressure. On this grid, an iterative process based on an artificial compressibility matrix associates the pressure with the continuity equation. This method is very accurate and avoids naturally most of the effects of parasite modes appearing in classical spectral methods with a velocity—pressure formulation.     

A review of some finite element methods to solve the stationary Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper the integrated solution approach, the penalty function approach and the solenoidal approach for the finite element solution of the stationary Navier-Stokes equations are compared. It is shown that both the penalty function approach and the solenoidal approach compare favourably to the integrated solution method. For fine meshes the solenoidal approach appears to be the cheapest method.     

A modified finite element method for solving the time-dependent,incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Part 2: Applications

Three examples will be presented to demonstrate the performance of the scheme described in Part 1 of this paper.¹ Two are isothermal (T = 0) and two-dimensional, and one of these is steady and the other time-dependent. The third example involves buoyancy effects, is time-dependent and three-dimensional, and is presented in less detail. The paper concludes with a short discussion and some conclusions from both Parts 1 and 2.     

A finite element method for the three-dimensional non-steady Navier-Stokes equations

The algorithm for solving the three-dimensional non-steady Navier-Stokes equations by the explicit forward Euler method is shown and the Galerkin finite element formulation is presented. As a numerical example, an entrace flow in a square duct is illustrated.     

The cause and cure (?) of the spurious pressures generated by certain FEM solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations: Part 1

The spurious pressures and ostensibly acceptable velocities which sometimes result from certain FEM approximate solutions of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations are explained in detail. The concept of pressure modes, physical and spurious, pure and impure, is introduced and their effects on discretized solutions is analysed, in the context of both mixed interpolation and penalty approaches. Pressure filtering schemes, which are capable of recovering useful pressures from otherwise polluted numerical results, are developed for two particular elements in two-dimensions and one element in three-dimensions. Implications regarding the effect of spurious pressure modes on accuracy and ultimate convergence with mesh refinement are discussed and a list of unanswered questions presented. Sufficient numerical examples are discussed to corroborate the theory presented herein.     

Finite element stream function-vorticity solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

The incompressible, two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved by the finite element method (FEM) using a novel stream function/vorticity formulation. The no-slip solid walls boundary condition is applied by taking advantage of the simple implementation of natural boundary conditions in the FEM, eliminating the need for an iterative evaluation of wall vorticity formulae. In addition, with the proper choice of elements, a stable scheme is constructed allowing convergence to be achieved for all Reynolds numbers, from creeping to inviscid flow, without the traditional need for upwinding and its associated false diffusion. Solutions are presented for a variety of geometries.     

Using a segregated finite element scheme to solve the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper, a segregated finite element scheme for the solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is proposed which is simpler in form than previously reported formulations. A pressure correction equation is derived from the momentum and continuity equations, and equal-order interpolation is used for both the velocity components and pressure. Algorithms such as this have been known to lead to checkerboard pressure oscillations; however, the pressure correction equation of this scheme should not produce these oscillations. The method is applied to several laminar flow situations, and details of the methods used to achieve converged solutions are given.     

Variable penalty method for finite element analysis of incompressible flow

A new scheme is applied for increasing the accuracy of the penalty finite element method for incompressible flow by systematically varying from element to element the sign and magnitude of the penalty parameter λ, which enters through ?.v + p/λ = 0, an approximation to the incompressibility constraint. Not only is the error in this approximation reduced beyond that achievable with a constant λ, but also digital truncation error is lowered when it is aggravated by large variations in element size, a critical problem when the discretization must resolve thin boundary layers. The magnitude of the penalty parameter can be chosen smaller than when λ is constant, which also reduces digital truncation error; hence a shorter word-length computer is more likely to succeed. Error estimates of the method are reviewed. Boundary conditions which circumvent the hazards of aphysical pressure modes are catalogued for the finite element basis set chosen here. In order to compare performance, the variable penalty method is pitted against the conventional penalty method with constant λ in several Stokes flow case studies.     

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.     

The cause and cure (!) of the spurious pressures generated by certain fem solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations: Part 2

The spurious pressures and ostensibly acceptable velocities which sometimes result from certain FEM approximate solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are explained in detail. The concept of pressure modes, physical and spurious, pure and impure, is introduced and their effects on discretized solutions is analysed, in the context of mixed interpolation and penalty approaches. Pressure filtering schemes, which are capable of recovering useful pressures from otherwise polluted numerical results, are developed for two particular elements in two-dimensions and one element in three-dimensions. The automatic pressure filter associated with the penalty method is also explained. Implications regarding the effect of spurious pressure modes on accuracy and ultimate convergence with mesh refinement are discussed and a list of unanswered questions presented. Sufficient numerical examples are discussed to corroborate the theory presented herein.     

Implementation of the Lagrange-Galerkin method for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

This paper is concerned with the implementation of Lagrange-Galerkin finite element methods for the Navier-Stokes equations. A scheme is developed to efficiently handle unstructed meshes with local refinement, using a quad-tree-based algorithm for the geometric search. Several difficulties that arise in the construction of the right-hand side are discussed in detail and some useful tricks are proposed. The resulting method is tested on the lid-driven square cavity and the vortex shedding behind a rectangular cylinder and is found to give satisfactory agreement with previous works. A detailed analysis of the effect of time discretization is included.     

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 high-order characteristics/finite element method for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper we consider a discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations involving a second-order time scheme based on the characteristics method and a spatial discretization of finite element type. Theoretical and numerical analyses are detailed and we obtain stability results abnd optimal eror estimates on the velocity and pressure under a time step restriction less stringent than the standard Courant-Freidrichs-Levy condition. Finally, some numerical results obtained wiht the code N3S are shown which justify the interest of this scheme and its advantages with respect to an analogous first-order time scheme. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of the stability of mixed finite element approximations on the accuracy and rate of convergence of solution when solving incompressible flow problems

The stability of two different mixed finite element methods for incompressible flow problems are theoretically analysed. The effect of the stability of the mixed approximation on the accuracy and the rate of convergence of solution is assessed for two non-trivial problems. The numerical results presented indicate that if the stability of the mixed approximation is not guaranteed then both pressure and velocity solutions are markedly less accurate. In one of the cases considered the ultimate convergence of both the pressure and the velocity solutions is seriously in doubt.     

Chebyshev collocation method and multidomain decomposition for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

The two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in primitive variables have been solved by a pseudospectral Chebyshev method using a semi-implicit fractional step scheme. The latter has been adapted to the particular features of spectral collocation methods to develop the monodomain algorithm. In particular, pressure and velocity collocated on the same nodes are sought in a polynomial space of the same order; the cascade of scalar elliptic problems arising after the spatial collocation is solved using finite difference preconditioning. With the present procedure spurious pressure modes do not pollute the pressure field. As a natural development of the present work a multidomain extent was devised and tested. The original domain is divided into a union of patching sub-rectangles. Each scalar problem obtained after spatial collocation is solved by iterating by subdomains. For steady problems a C¹ solution is recovered at the interfaces upon convergence, ensuring a spectrally accurate solution. A number of test cases have been solved to validate the algorithm in both its single-block and multidomain configurations. The preliminary results achieved indicate that collocation methods in multidomain configurations might become a viable alternative to the spectral element technique for accurate flow prediction.     

A class of fully third-order accurate projection methods for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper, a fully third-order accurate projection method for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is proposed. To construct the scheme, a continuous projection procedure is firstly presented. We then derive a sufficient condition for the continuous projection equations to be temporally third-order accurate approximations of the original Navier-Stokes equations by means of the local- truncation-error-analysis technique. The continuous projection equations are discretized temporally and spatially to third-order accuracy on the staggered grids, resulting in a fully third-order discrete projection scheme. The possibility to design higher-order projection methods is thus demonstrated in the present paper. A heuristic stability analysis is performed on this projection method showing the probability of its being stable. The stability of the present scheme is further verified through numerical tests. The third-order accuracy of the present projection method is validated by several numerical test cases. The project supported by the China NKBRSF (2001CB409604) The English text was polished by Yunming Chen     

Finite element analysis of the steady Navier-Stokes equations by a multiplier method

In this paper a fully explicit finite element method (FEFEM) is presented for solving steady incompressible viscous flow problems. This full explicitness is achieved by combining the multiplier (or augmented Lagrangian) method with a pseudo-time-iteration method. FEFEM needs no global matrix at all and is of great advantage to large-scale problems because they can be solved within the limit of core memory. The optimum choice of a time increment and a penalty parameter is discussed and the driven cavity flow at a Reynolds number of 1000 is computed with a refined mesh (60 × 60 elements).     

A streamline diffusion nonconforming finite element method for the time-dependent linearized Navier-Stokes equations

A nonconforming finite element method of finite difference streamline diffusion type is proposed to solve the time-dependent linearized Navier-Stokes equations. The backward Euler scheme is used for time discretization. Crouzeix-Raviart nonconforming finite element approximation, namely, nonconforming （P1）2 - P0 element, is used for the velocity and pressure fields with the streamline diffusion technique to cope with usual instabilities caused by the convection and time terms. Stability and error estimates are derived with suitable norms.     

A finite element solution of the time-dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using a modified velocity correction method

A finite element solution of the two-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations has been developed. The present method is a modified velocity correction approach. First an intermediate velocity is calculated, and then this is corrected by the pressure gradient which is the solution of a Poisson equation derived from the continuity equation. The novelty, in this paper, is that a second-order Runge–Kutta method for time integration has been used. Discretization in space is carried out by the Galerkin weighted residual method. The solution is in terms of primitive variables, which are approximated by polynomial basis functions defined on three-noded, isoparametric triangular elements. To demonstrate the present method, two examples are provided. Results from the first example, the driven cavity flow problem, are compared with previous works. Results from the second example, uniform flow past a cylinder, are compared with experimental data.