A Fractional-Step Technique for Unsteady Incompressible Flows

Abstract

A numerical technique is presented for efficiently solving three-dimensional unsteady incompressible flows. The method is based on the fractional-step approach. The computational molecule is a semi-staggered grid where the velocity components are defined at the cell corners and the pressure at the cell centers. The pressure gradients at the cell interfaces are computed using fourth-order-accurate compact differences. The convective terms are time-advanced by a third-order-accurate Runge-Kutta technique and the diffusive terms by the Crank-Nicolson scheme. The residual form of the pressure-Poisson equation is solved iteratively by the modified strongly implicit scheme. Globally, the method is second-order accurate in space and time. The consistency of the boundary conditions and the overall solution accuracy are verified properly. The technique is applied to a three-dimensional shear-driven cavity for predicting the unsteady flow at Reynolds numbers of 2000 and 3200.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 31, 1993
Accession Number
ADA637057

Entities

People

  • Stephen A. Jordan

Organizations

  • Naval Undersea Warfare Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Consistency
  • Equations
  • Flow
  • Flow Visualization
  • Incompressible Flow
  • Poisson Equation
  • Pressure Gradients
  • Reynolds Number
  • Stratified Fluids
  • Three Dimensional
  • Turbulent Mixing
  • Two Dimensional
  • Unsteady Flow
  • Viscous Flow

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics
  • Physics

Readers

  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.

Technology Areas

  • Space