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Approximate Solution Techniques: Computational Fluid Dynamics

This document discusses approximate solution techniques used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). It describes the two main categories of methods - mesh-based methods that require discretization of the domain, such as finite difference, finite element, and finite volume methods, and mesh-free methods that use node collections without connectivity, like smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Of the mesh-based methods, the finite volume method has been most popular for commercial CFD packages due to its simplicity and ability to model complex geometries. Brief overviews are provided of the finite difference, finite element, and finite volume methods.

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263 views

Approximate Solution Techniques: Computational Fluid Dynamics

This document discusses approximate solution techniques used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). It describes the two main categories of methods - mesh-based methods that require discretization of the domain, such as finite difference, finite element, and finite volume methods, and mesh-free methods that use node collections without connectivity, like smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Of the mesh-based methods, the finite volume method has been most popular for commercial CFD packages due to its simplicity and ability to model complex geometries. Brief overviews are provided of the finite difference, finite element, and finite volume methods.

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chintu3242
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS INTRODUCTION: Approximation Techniques

Dr K M Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee NPTEL L3.1


Lecture 3
APPROXIMATE SOLUTION TECHNIQUES

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Numerous approximate solution techniques have been developed for different types of
problems in CFD. These methods can be classified into two categories:

Mesh-based methods which require discretization of the problem domain into a
mesh (or grid), e.g. finite difference, finite element, and finite volume methods.
Mesh-free methods which primarily use a collection of nodes with no apparent
connectivity, e.g. smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH), mesh-less Petrov-
Galerkin (MLPG), lattice Boltzmann methods.

Of the preceding two types, mesh-based methods are more popular in CFD. Of these, finite
volume method has been the most popular due to its simplicity and ease of application for
problems in complex geometries. In fact, majority of commercial CFD packages (e.g. Fluent,
StarCD, etc.) are based on finite volume method. In this lecture, we will have a brief
overview of finite difference, finite element and finite volume methods.
3.2 FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD (FDM)
The FDM is the oldest method for numerical solution of partial differential equations. This
method is also the easiest method to formulate and program for problems on simple
geometries. In FDM, the solution domain is discretized using a structured (usually Cartesian)
grid. The conservation equations in differential form are approximated at each grid point by
replacing the partial derivatives by finite difference approximations in terms of nodal values
of the unknown variables. This process results in an algebraic equation for each node. These
algebraic equations are collected for all the grid points and resulting system of discrete
equations are solved to yield the approximate solution of the problem at the grid nodes.

The main disadvantage of the finite difference method is its restriction to simple
geometries (although immersed boundary techniques do remove this restriction). We provide
a detailed description of this method in the following section.

3.3 FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (FEM)
The finite element method is based on the division of the problem domain into a set of finite
elements which are generally unstructured. The elements are usually triangles or
quadrilaterals in two dimensions, and tetrahedra or hexahedra in three dimensions. Starting
point of the method is conservation equation in differential form. The unknown variable is
approximated using an interpolation procedure in terms of nodal values and a set of known
functions (called shape functions). This approximation is substituted into the differential
equation. The resulting residual (error) is minimized in an average sense using a weighted
residual procedure. The weighted integral statement leads to a system of discrete equations in
terms of unknown nodal values, which is solved to obtain the solution of the problem.

FEM is ideally suited to problems on complex geometries, and hence, this method has
been very popular in computational solid mechanics. There is an extensive literature available



COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS INTRODUCTION: Approximation Techniques
Dr K M Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee NPTEL L3.2
on all aspects of this method: type of elements, shape functions, mesh generation,
applications to different type of problems, etc. For detailed study of FEM, interested reader
can refer to books by Zienkiewicz et al. (2005a, 2005b), Reddy (2005), Reddy and Gartling
(2010) amongst others.
3.4 FINITE VOLUME METHOD (FVM)
The finite volume method is based on the integral form of conservation equations. The
problem domain is divided into a set of non-overlapping control volumes (called finite
volumes). The conservation equations are applied to each finite volume. The integrals
occurring in the conservation equations are evaluated using function values at computational
nodes (which are usually taken as centroids of finite volumes). This process involves use of
approximate integral formulae and interpolation methods (to obtain the values of variables at
surfaces of the CVs).

The FVM can accommodate any type of grid, and hence, it is naturally suitable for
complex geometries. This explains its popularity for commercial CFD packages, which must
cater to problems in arbitrarily complex geometries. This method has immensely benefited
from the unstructured grid generation methods developed for the finite element method.

REFERENCES/SUGGESTED READING

Anderson, J. D., Jr. (1995). Computational Fluid Dynamics: The Basics with Applications.
McGraw Hill, New York.
Ferziger, J. H. And Peri, M. (2003). Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics. Springer.
Reddy, J. N. (2005). An Introduction to the Finite Element Method. 3
rd
Ed., McGraw Hill,
New York.

Reddy, J. N. and Gartling, D. K. (2010). The Finite Element Method in Heat Transfer and
Fluid Dynamics, 3
rd
ed., CRC Press

Versteeg, H. K. and Malalasekera, W. M. G. (2007). Introduction to Computational Fluid
Dynamics: The Finite Volume Method. Second Edition (Indian Reprint) Pearson Education
Zienkiewicz, O. C., Taylor, R. L., Nithiarasu, P. (2005a). The Finite Element Method for
Fluid Dynamics, Butterworth-Heinemann (Elsevier).

Zienkiewicz, O. C., Taylor, R. L., Zhu, J. Z. (2005b). The Finite Element Method: Its Basis
and Fundamentals, 6
th
Ed., Butterworth-Heinemann (Elsevier).

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