Finite Elements for Fluid Dynamics.

Abstract

The first two parts of this report wind up a few questions in the mathematical formulation of vector fields governed by conservation and rotationality laws, with explicit application to fluid dynamic fields, possibly with shock waves. The points treated have a strong bearing on computational schemes and the stability of numerical calculations and the results provide a priori information on the way to select the appropriate set of equations, the right functional, and the most promising approximation space for finite element discretizations. The last assertion is then tested for the tricomi equation in a nonuniformly elliptic domain. A mixed Tricomi problem is discretized by an alternative collocation scheme which proves to be acoustic and stable as demonstrated on a few test-cases. The collocation finite difference schemes have proven superior thus to the finite elements for this case. They are, however, more specialized and natural for linear problems and simple geometries. The variationally based finite elements, on the other hand, hold a better promise for complex geometries, and for an accurate treatment of shocks. (Author)

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1980
Accession Number
ADA097215

Entities

People

  • Nima Geffen

Organizations

  • Tel Aviv University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Boundary Value Problems
  • Cauchy Problem
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Difference Equations
  • Differential Equations
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Equations
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Formulas (Mathematics)
  • Geometry
  • Mathematics
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Shock Waves

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)

Technology Areas

  • Space