Numerical solutions of Navier-Stokes equations with an integrated compartment method (ICM)

The most common numerical methods that are used by physical scientists to approximate partial differential equations employ finite differences and/or finite elements. In addition, compartment analyses have been adopted by ecological system analysts to simulate the evolution of processes governed by differential equations without spatial derivatives. An integrated compartment method (ICM) is proposed to combine the merits of these three numerical techniques. The basic procedures of the ICM are first to discretize the region of interest into compartments, then to apply three integral theorems of vectors to transform the volume integral to the surface integral, and finally to use interpolation to relate the interfacial values in terms of compartment values to close the system. These procedures are applied to the Navier-Stokes equations to yield the computational algorithm from which computer programs can be coded. The computer code is designed to solve one-, two-, or three-dimensional problems as desired. The program is applied to two simple cases: wake formation behind an obstacle in a channel and circulatory motion of a body of fluid in the square cavity. These preliminary applications have shown promising results.     

Conservative calculations of non-isentropic transonic flows

The classical potential formulation of inviscid transonic flows is modified to account for non-isentropic effects. The density is determined in terms of the speed as well as the pressure, which in turn is calculated from a second-order mixed-type equation derived via differentiating the momentum equations. The present model differs in general from the exact inviscid Euler equations since the flow is assumed irrotational. On the other hand, since the shocks are not isentropic, they are weaker and are placed further upstream compared to the classical potential solution. Furthermore, the streamline leaving the aerofoil does not necessarily bisect the trailing edge. Results for the present conservative calculations are presented for non-lifting and lifting aerofoils at subsonic and transonic speeds and compared to potential and Euler solutions.     

积分单元法及后台阶绕流计算

本文主要介绍解不可压纳维尔—斯托克斯方程的新方法:积分单元法,并用该方法计算了后台阶绕流问题。结果表明,积分单元法是计算后台阶绕流的一种较好的方法。     

Computation of high speed turbulent boundary-layer flows using the k–ϵ turbulence model

The applicability of a finite element-differential method to the computation of steady two-dimensional low-speed, transonic and supersonic turbulent boundary-layer flows is investigated. The turbulence model chosen for the Reynolds shear stress and turbulent heat flux is the K-? two-equation model. Calculations are extended up to the wall and the exact values of the dependent variables at the wall are used as boundary conditions. A number of transformations are carried out and the assumed solutions at a longitudinal station are represented by complete cubic spline functions. In essence, the method converts the governing partial differential equations into a system of ordinary differential equations by a weighted residuals method and invokes an ordinary differential equation solver for the numerical integration of the reduced initial-value problem. The results of the computations reveal that the method is highly accurate and efficient. Furthermore, the accuracy and applicability of the k-? turbulence model are examined by comparing results of the computations with experimental data. The agreement is very good.     

Determination of flow sub-regimes in stratified air–water channel flow using LDV spectra

In gas–liquid stratified flows, pressure drop and transport across the interface are strongly influenced by the interfacial wave structure, making the determination of interfacial topography in this kind of flows very important. An objective way of characterizing the wave pattern present in the interface is proposed here. The method consists in analysing the spectra of the signal obtained from Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements of fluctuations occurring close to the air-sheared interface. Transitions are defined by the appearance and disappearance of peaks in the frequency spectra. The method was applied to study the transition regimes of a stratified air–water flow in a square-cross section channel. A flow pattern map for air–water channel flow is presented and compared with the maps available from the literature.     

Numerical study of thermal convection in rotating channel flow

A numerical study is conducted on the effect of sidewall heating in the pressure-driven laminar flow of an incompressible viscous fluid through a rectangular channel that is subjected to a spanwise rotation. The time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations are solved along with the conservation equations for energy and mass by a finite-difference technique. The effect of weak to moderate sidewall heating on the overall flow structure at different rotation rates is studied. It is observed that for weak sidewall heating, the secondary flow structure is quite similar to the corresponding isothermal case. However, when the sidewall heating is moderate, various types of secondary flow fields are found to occur depending on the magnitude of the rotation. The influence of rotational speed on the net heat transport for different levels of sidewall heating is also studied. It is found that when the sidewall heating is weak, the basic secondary flow structure for the non-rotating case is of a unicellular form and an increase in the rotation speed leads to an increase in the net heat transfer due mainly to the rotationally driven transport of fluid from the high temperature to the low temperature region. On the other hand, when the sidewall heating is moderate so that the basic secondary flow structure for the non-rotating case has a multicellular configuration, an increase in the rotation speed leads to a decrease in the heat transport due to the weakening of the shear layer near the hot wall.     

Improvement of a pressure gradient method and its application to an unsteady flow problem

The pressure gradient method using velocity components and components of a pressure gradient as dependent variables has been modified to solve incompressible Newtonian fluid flow problems numerically. Applying this modified method to unsteady-state development of flow in a circular cavity shows that, at least for the case of a low Reynolds number flow, relative errors produced by the proposed method are smaller for most time intervals than those produced by the primitive velocity-pressure variable method and by the standard pressure gradient method. Also it is found that the modified and standard pressure gradient methods can be applied to the unsteady circular cavity flow at a moderate Reynolds number of at least up to 200.     

Entropy generation in flow field subjected to a porous block in a vertical channel

Entropy generation in the flow field subjected to a porous block situated in a vertical channel is examined. The effects of channel inlet port height (vertical height between channel inlet port and the block center), porosity, and block aspect ratio on the entropy generation rate due to fluid friction and heat transfer in the fluid are examined. The governing equations of flow, heat transfer, and entropy are solved numerically using a control volume approach. Air is used as the flowing fluid in the channel. A uniform heat flux is considered in the block and natural convection is accommodated in the analysis. It is found that entropy generation rate due to fluid friction increases with increasing inlet port height, while this increase becomes gradual for entropy generation rate due to heat transfer for the inlet port height exceeding 0.03 m. The porosity lowers entropy generation rate due to fluid friction and heat transfer. The effect of block aspect ratio on entropy generation rate is notable; in which case, entropy generation rate increases for the block aspect ratio of 1:2.     

Studies in numerical computations of recirculating flows

This paper considers the use of various finite differencing schemes for the computation of flows involving regions of recirculation. Standard first-order hybrid schemes, vector (or skew) schemes and second-order schemes are used to predict laminar flows in a channel containing a constriction and over a normal flat plate with a downstream splitter plate. In the former case the results are compared with those of other workers and with the implications of analytic theories for the viscous dominated flow around the sharp corner. Attention is concentrated on the effects of errors arising from the use of non-uniform grids and it is shown that higher-order differencing schemes are generally much less susceptible to these than the simpler schemes. The major conclusion is that for flows containing regions where pressure gradients largely balance the convective terms in the momentum equations, in addition to other regions where convection and diffusion balance, higher order differencing schemes are likely to be essential if accurate predictions are required on grids without excessive numbers of nodes. It is argued that similar conclusions must hold for high Reynolds number turbulent flows.     

Stability of flows in a peristaltic transport

The stability problem related to the basic flows induced by the peristaltic waves propagating along the deformable walls is investigated numerically. The neutral stability boundary is obtained by solving the relevant Orr–Sommerfeld equation via a verified preconditioned complex-matrix solver. The critical Reynolds number becomes 577.25 when the ratio of the wave speed to the maximum speed of the basic flow (c/u_max) becomes 10.     

Numerical predictions of flows over backward-facing steps

Predictions are reported for two-dimensional, steady, incompressible flows over rearward-facing steps for both laminar and turbulent conditions. The standard k-? turbulence model was used for the turbulent flow. Attention was focused on obtaining accurate solutions to the differential equations. It is concluded that some of the serious discrepancies that have occurred between prediction and observation, and attributed in earlier studies to the inadequacy of the turbulence model, may have been due to the inaccuracy of the solution.     

A modified dodge algorithm for the parabolized Navier–Stokes equations and compressible duct flows

A revised version of Dodge's split-velocity method for numerical calculation of compressible duct flow has been developed. The revision incorporates balancing of mass flow rates on each marching step in order to maintain front-to-back continuity during the calculation. The (chequerboard) zebra algorithm is applied to solution of the three-dimensional continuity equation in conservative form. A second-order A-stable linear multistep method is employed in effecting a marching solution of the parabolized momentum equations. A chequerboard iteration is ued to solve the resulting implicit non-linear systems of finite-difference equations which govern stepwise transition. Qualitive agreement with analytical predictions and experimental results has been obtained for some flows with well-known solutions.     

Performance of a multigrid calculation procedure in three-dimensional sudden expansion flows

The performance of a recently developed calculation procedure for steady incompressible flows is assessed in a variety of three-dimensional sudden expansion type flows representative of those encountered in several types of industrial equipment. The calculation procedure, called here BLIMM (for block-implicit multigrid method), is based on a coupled solution of the three-dimensional momentum and continuity equations in primitive variables, using the multigrid technique. Different Reynolds numbers and finite difference grids are considered for each flow situation. The rates of convergence and the computational times are reported for each case.     

Performance of a flapping foil flow energy harvester in shear flows

Through numerical simulations, we investigate the energy harvesting performance of a heaving/pitching foil in shear flow. With two-dimensional Navier–Stokes simulations, we examined the energy harvesting efficiencies of such a system in linear shear flows and compared the results with those in uniform flows. It is found that in low shear rates, the performance of the system in linear shear flow is slightly higher than that in uniform flow, whereas the energy harvesting efficiency is greatly diminished if the shear rate is sufficiently high (this effect is more pronounced in higher frequencies). This is attributed to the effects of linear shear on the vorticity generation and the synchronization between fluid forcing and foil motion – when a strong shear flow is introduced the lift force induced by the leading edge vortex that is in phase with the heaving motion of the foil is diminished. Furthermore, by studying the instability of the wake behind the foil, we confirm that the optimal performance of the foil in linear shear flows is associated with the same physical mechanism that controls the performance of the foil in uniform flows, i.e. the excitation of the most unstable modes in the wake when the oscillation frequency of the foil is close to the frequencies of these modes.     

Use of the splitting scheme and multigrid method to compute flow separation

The splitting difference scheme is used to study flow separation. Flows behind a circular cylinder are computed as a model problem. In view of the nature of the flow, the variables are transformed. The boundary condition for the pressure is given from an intermediate velocity. The free-slip velocity boundary conditions on the rigid wall are given by interpolation. The multigrid algorithm is applied to the pressure iteration. We also choose better initial values for the model problem by means of the multigrid algorithm idea.     

The simulation of secondary flow effects in turbulent non-circular passage flows

A finite difference method has been developed to predict the overall features of the local mean flow in fully developed turbulent non-circular passage flows. The main transport effects of secondary flow have been identified and simulated with diffusion transport in a simple way which eliminates solution of the cross-plane momentum and continuity equations and produces a compact calculation method. Predictions are presented for four different passage shapes and are discussed in relation to experimental measurements and predictions from other more complex methods. Although some minor details were not predicted, the main effects of secondary flow on the mean flow were found to have been quite well simulated, yielding predictions that are in reasonable overall agreement with experiment.     

Steady-state water and vapor flows in a porous medium

Stationary regimes of nonisothermal flow of a liquid and its vapor through a porous medium in the gravity field are investigated. Possible flow types are analyzed in the plane of the determining parameters. The analytical results obtained are used in discussing the possibility of finding the pressure and temperature in the interior of a geothermal system from the parameters of the liquid and vapor flow in its permeable surface formations.     

Finite element analysis of flow in a gas-filled rotating annulus

Linearized multidimensional flow in a gas centrifuge can be described away from the ends by Onsager's pancake equation. However a rotating annulus results in a slightly different set of boundary conditions from the usual symmetry at the axis of rotation. The problem on an annulus becomes ill-posed and requires some special attention. Herein we treat axially linear inner and outer rotor temperature distributions and velocity slip. An existence condition for a class of non-trivial, one-dimensional solutions is given. New exact solutions in the infinite bowl approximation have been derived containing terms that are important at finite gap width and non-vanishing velocity slip. The usual one-dimensional, axially symmetric solution is obtained as a limit. Our previously reported finite element algorithm has been extended to treat this new class of problems. Effects of gap width, temperature and slip conditions are illustrated. Lastly, we report on the compressible, finite length, circular Couette flow for the first time.     

Simulations of 2D and 3D thermocapillary flows by a least-squares finite element method

Numerical results for time-dependent 2D and 3D thermocapillary flows are presented in this work. The numerical algorithm is based on the Crank–Nicolson scheme for time integration, Newton's method for linearization, and a least-squares finite element method, together with a matrix-free Jacobi conjugate gradient technique. The main objective in this work is to demonstrate how the least-squares finite element method, together with an iterative procedure, deals with the capillary-traction boundary conditions at the free surface, which involves the coupling of velocity and temperature gradients. Mesh refinement studies were also carried out to validate the numerical results. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.