COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

Presented by
Dr. Hesham M. Khalil
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

• In problems where fluid flow plays a significant role we must account for the effects of convection.
• Diffusion always occurs alongside convection in nature so here we examine methods to predict
combined convection and diffusion.

𝜕𝜌𝜙
+ 𝑑𝑖𝑣(𝜌𝜙𝐮) = 𝑑𝑖𝑣(Γ 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝜙) + 𝑆𝜙
𝜕𝑡
by deleting the transient term
𝑑𝑖𝑣(𝜌𝜙𝐮) = 𝑑𝑖𝑣(Γ 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝜙) + 𝑆𝜙
Formal integration over a control volume gives

න 𝑑𝑖𝑣 (𝜌𝜙𝐮)𝑑𝑉 = න 𝑑𝑖𝑣 Γ 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝜙 𝑑𝑉 + න 𝑆𝜙 𝑑𝑉

𝐶𝑉 𝐶𝑉 𝐶𝑉
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

• In the absence of sources, steady convection and diffusion of a property 𝜙 in a given one-dimensional
flow field 𝑢 is governed by

𝑑 𝑑 𝑑𝜙
𝑑𝑖𝑣(𝜌𝜙𝐮) = 𝑑𝑖𝑣(Γ 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝜙) + 𝑆𝜙 (𝜌𝜙𝑢) = Γ
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥

• The flow must also satisfy continuity, so

𝜕𝜌 𝑑
+ 𝑑𝑖𝑣(𝜌𝐮) = 0 (𝜌𝑢) = 0
𝜕𝑡 𝑑𝑥
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

• Integration of transport equation over the control volume gives

𝑑 𝑑 𝑑𝜙 𝑑 𝑑 𝑑𝜙
න 𝜌𝜙𝑢 𝑑𝑉 = න Γ 𝑑𝑉 න 𝜌𝜙𝑢 𝐴𝑑𝑥 = න Γ 𝐴𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
∆𝑉 ∆𝑉 ∆𝑉 ∆𝑉
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

• Integration of transport equation over the control volume gives

𝑑 𝑑 𝑑𝜙 𝑑𝜙 𝑑𝜙
න 𝜌𝜙𝑢 𝐴𝑑𝑥 = න Γ 𝐴𝑑𝑥 𝜌𝜙𝑢𝐴 𝑒 − 𝜌𝜙𝑢𝐴 𝑤 = Γ𝐴 − Γ𝐴
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
𝑒 𝑤
∆𝑉 ∆𝑉
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

• And integration of continuity equation yields

𝑑
න 𝜌𝑢 𝐴𝑑𝑥 = 𝜌𝑢𝐴 𝑒 − 𝜌𝑢𝐴 𝑤 =0
𝑑𝑥
∆𝑉
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

• To obtain discretised equations for the convection–diffusion problem we must approximate the
terms in equation.
• It is convenient to define two variables 𝐹 and 𝐷 to represent the convective mass flux per unit area
and diffusion conductance at cell faces :

Γ
𝐹 = 𝜌𝑢 𝐷=
𝛿𝑥

• The cell face values of the variables 𝐹 and 𝐷 can be written as

Γ𝑤 Γ𝑒
𝐹𝑤 = 𝜌𝑢 𝑤 𝐹𝑒 = 𝜌𝑢 𝑒 𝐷𝑤 = 𝐷𝑒 =
𝛿𝑥𝑊𝑃 𝛿𝑥𝑃𝐸
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

𝑑𝜙 𝑑𝜙
𝜌𝜙𝑢𝐴 𝑒 − 𝜌𝜙𝑢𝐴 𝑤 = Γ𝐴 − Γ𝐴
𝑑𝑥 𝑒
𝑑𝑥 𝑤

• We develop our techniques assuming that 𝐴𝑤 = 𝐴𝑤 = 𝐴, so we can divide the left and right hand

sides of equation by area 𝐴.

• As before, we employ the central differencing approach to represent the contribution of the

diffusion terms on the right hand side.

• The integrated convection–diffusion equation can now be written as

𝐹𝑒 𝜙𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑤 = 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸 − 𝜙𝑃 − 𝐷𝑤 𝜙𝑃 − 𝜙𝑊
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Steady one dimensional convection and diffusion

and the integrated continuity equation

𝑑
න 𝜌𝑢 𝐴𝑑𝑥 = 𝜌𝑢𝐴 𝑒 − 𝜌𝑢𝐴 𝑤 =0 𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 = 0
𝑑𝑥
∆𝑉

• We also assume that the velocity field is ‘somehow known’, which takes care of the values of 𝐹𝑒

and 𝐹𝑤 .

• In order to solve equation we need to calculate the transported property 𝜙 at the 𝑒 and 𝑤 faces.

Schemes for this purpose are assessed in the following slides.

THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The central differencing scheme

• It seems logical to try linear interpolation to compute the cell face values for the convective terms on
the left hand side of this equation.

• For a uniform grid we can write the cell face values of property 𝜙 as

𝜙𝑒 = (𝜙𝑃 + 𝜙𝐸 )/2 𝜙𝑤 = (𝜙𝑊 + 𝜙𝑃 )/2

• Substitution of the above expressions into the convection terms yields

𝐹𝑒 𝜙𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑤 = 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸 − 𝜙𝑃 − 𝐷𝑤 𝜙𝑃 − 𝜙𝑊

𝐹𝑒 𝐹𝑤
(𝜙𝑃 + 𝜙𝐸 ) − (𝜙𝑊 + 𝜙𝑃 ) = 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸 − 𝜙𝑃 − 𝐷𝑤 𝜙𝑃 − 𝜙𝑊
2 2
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The central differencing scheme

• This can be rearranged to give

𝐹𝑤 𝐹𝑒 𝐹𝑤 𝐹𝑒
𝐷𝑤 − + 𝐷𝑒 + 𝜙𝑃 = 𝐷𝑤 + 𝜙𝑊 + 𝐷𝑒 − 𝜙𝐸
2 2 2 2

𝐹𝑤 𝐹𝑒 𝐹𝑤 𝐹𝑒
𝐷𝑤 + + 𝐷𝑒 − + (𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 ) 𝜙𝑃 = 𝐷𝑤 + 𝜙𝑊 + 𝐷𝑒 − 𝜙𝐸
2 2 2 2

• Identifying the coefficients of 𝜙𝑊 and 𝜙𝐸 as 𝑎𝑊 and 𝑎𝐸 , the central differencing expressions for
the discretised convection–diffusion equation are
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The central differencing scheme

𝑎𝑃 𝜙𝑃 = 𝑎𝑊 𝜙𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 𝜙𝐸

𝑎𝑊 𝑎𝐸 𝑎𝑃

𝐹𝑤 𝐹𝑒
𝐷𝑤 + 𝐷𝑒 − 𝑎𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 + (𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 )
2 2

• To solve a one-dimensional convection–diffusion problem we write discretised equations of the form for
all grid nodes.
• This yields a set of algebraic equations that is solved to obtain the distribution of the transported
property 𝜙.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes

• The failure of central differencing in certain cases involving combined convection and diffusion forces us to take
a more in-depth look at the properties of discretisation schemes.
• In theory numerical results may be obtained that are indistinguishable from the ‘exact’ solution of the transport
equation when the number of computational cells is infinitely large, irrespective of the differencing method
used.
• However, in practical calculations we can only use a finite – sometimes quite small – number of cells, and our
numerical results will only be physically realistic when the discretisation scheme has certain fundamental
properties. The most important ones are:
Conservativeness Boundedness Transportiveness
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Conservativeness

• To ensure conservation of 𝜙 for the whole solution domain, the flux of 𝜙 leaving a control volume
across a certain face must be equal to the flux of 𝜙 entering the adjacent control volume through the
same face.
• For example, consider the one-dimensional steady state diffusion problem without source terms
shown in Figure:
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Conservativeness

• The fluxes across the domain boundaries are denoted by 𝑞𝐴 and 𝑞𝐵 .

• Let us consider four control volumes and apply central differencing to calculate the diffusive flux
across the cell faces.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Conservativeness

𝜙2 − 𝜙1 𝜙3 − 𝜙2 𝜙2 − 𝜙1 𝜙4 − 𝜙3 𝜙3 − 𝜙2
Γ𝑒1 − 𝑞𝐴 + Γ𝑒2 − Γ𝑤2 + Γ𝑒3 − Γ𝑤3
𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑥 𝛿𝑥
𝜙4 − 𝜙3
+ 𝑞𝐵 − Γ𝑤4 = 𝑞𝐵 − 𝑞𝐴
𝛿𝑥
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Conservativeness

• Inconsistent flux interpolation formulae give rise to unsuitable schemes that do not satisfy overall
conservation.
• For example, let us consider the situation where a quadratic interpolation formula, based on values at
1, 2 and 3, is used for control volume 2, and a quadratic profile, based on values at points 2, 3 and 4,
is used for control volume 3.
• As shown in Figure, the resulting quadratic profiles can be quite different.
• Consequently, the flux values calculated at the east face of control volume 2 and the west face of
control volume 3 may be unequal if the gradients of the two curves are different at the cell face.
• If this is the case the two fluxes do not cancel out when summed and overall conservation is not
satisfied.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Conservativeness

THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Boundedness

• The discretised equations at each nodal point represent a set of algebraic equations that needs to be
solved.
• Normally iterative numerical techniques are used to solve large equation sets.
• These methods start the solution process from a guessed distribution of the variable 𝜙 and perform
successive updates until a converged solution is obtained.
• Scarborough (1958) has shown that a sufficient condition for a convergent iterative method can be
expressed in terms of the values of the coefficients of the discretised equations:

σ 𝑎𝑛𝑏 ≤ 1 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑠

′ ቊ
𝑎𝑃 < 1 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Boundedness

• Here 𝑎𝑃′ is the net coefficient of the central node 𝑃 (i.e. 𝑎𝑃 − 𝑆𝑃 ), and the summation in the

numerator is taken over all the neighbouring nodes (𝑛𝑏).

• The ‘boundedness’ criterion states that in the absence of sources the internal nodal values of

property 𝜙 should be bounded by its boundary values.

• Hence in a steady state conduction problem without sources and with boundary temperatures of

500°C and 200°C, all interior values of T should be less than 500°C and greater than 200°C.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Boundedness

• Another essential requirement for boundedness is that all coefficients of the discretised equations

should have the same sign (usually all positive).

• Physically this implies that an increase in the variable 𝜙 at one node should result in an increase in

𝜙 at neighbouring nodes.

• If the discretisation scheme does not satisfy the boundedness requirements it is possible that the

solution does not converge at all, or, if it does, that it contains ‘wiggles’.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Transportiveness

• The transportiveness property of a fluid flow (Roache, 1976) can be illustrated by considering the

effect at a point P due to two constant sources of 𝜙 at nearby points 𝑊 and 𝐸 on either side as

shown in Figure.

• The non-dimensional cell Peclet number is a measure of the relative strengths of convection and

diffusion:

𝐹 𝜌𝑢
𝑃𝑒 = =
𝐷 Γ/𝛿𝑥
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Properties of discretisation schemes - Transportiveness

a. No convection and pure diffusion (Pe → 0)

b. No diffusion and pure convection (Pe→∞)

It is very important that the relationship between the directionality of influencing and the flow direction
and magnitude of the Peclet number, known as the transportiveness, is borne out in the discretisation
scheme.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the central differencing scheme for convection-diffusion problems

Conservativeness:

• The central differencing scheme uses consistent expressions to evaluate convective and diffusive fluxes

at the control volume faces. The scheme is conservative.

Boundedness:

• The internal coefficients of discretised scalar transport equation

𝑎𝑊 𝑎𝐸 𝑎𝑃

𝐹𝑤 𝐹𝑒
𝐷𝑤 + 𝐷𝑒 − 𝑎𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 + (𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 )
2 2
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the central differencing scheme for convection-diffusion problems

Boundedness:

• A steady one-dimensional flow field is also governed by the discretised continuity equation.
• This equation states that 𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 = 0 is zero when the flow field satisfies continuity.
• Thus the expression for 𝑎𝑃 becomes equal to 𝑎𝑃 = 𝑎𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 . The coefficients of the central
differencing scheme satisfy the Scarborough criterion.
𝐹𝑒
• With 𝑎𝐸 = 𝐷𝑒 − 2
the convective contribution to the east coefficient is negative; if the convection

dominates it is possible for 𝑎𝐸 to be negative.

• Given that 𝐹𝑤 > 0 and 𝐹𝑒 > 0 (i.e. the flow is unidirectional), for 𝑎𝐸 to be positive 𝐷𝑒 and 𝐹𝑒 must
satisfy the following condition: 𝐹𝑒 /𝐷𝑒 = 𝑃𝑒 < 2.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the central differencing scheme for convection-diffusion problems

Boundedness:

• If 𝑃𝑒 is greater than 2 the east coefficient will be negative. This violates one of the requirements for
boundedness and may lead to physically impossible solutions.

Transportiveness:

• The central differencing scheme introduces influencing at node P from the directions of all its
neighbours to calculate the convective and diffusive flux.
• Thus the scheme does not recognise the direction of the flow or the strength of convection relative to
diffusion. It does not possess the transportiveness property at high 𝑃𝑒 .
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

• One of the major inadequacies of the central differencing scheme is its inability to identify flow
direction.
• The value of property 𝜙 at a west cell face is always influenced by both 𝜙𝑃 and 𝜙𝑊 in central
differencing.
• In a strongly convective flow from west to east, the above treatment is unsuitable because the west cell
face should receive much stronger influencing from node W than from node P.
• The upwind differencing or ‘donor cell’ differencing scheme takes into account the flow direction
when determining the value at a cell face: the convected value of 𝜙 at a cell face is taken to be equal
to the value at the upstream node.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

• In first figure we show the nodal values used to calculate cell face values when the flow is in the
positive direction (west to east) and in second figure those for the negative direction.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

• In first figure we show the nodal values used to calculate cell face values when the flow is in the
positive direction (west to east) and in second figure those for the negative direction.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

• When the flow is in the positive direction, 𝑢𝑤 > 0, 𝑢𝑒 > 0 (𝐹𝑤 > 0, 𝐹𝑒 > 0), the upwind scheme
sets
𝜙𝑤 = 𝜙𝑊 𝜙𝑒 = 𝜙𝑃

and the discretised equation becomes

𝐹𝑒 𝜙𝑃 − 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑊 = 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸 − 𝜙𝑃 − 𝐷𝑤 𝜙𝑃 − 𝜙𝑊

which can be rearranged as

𝐷𝑤 + 𝐷𝑒 + 𝐹𝑒 𝜙𝑃 = 𝐷𝑤 + 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑊 + 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

to give

𝐷𝑤 + 𝐹𝑤 + 𝐷𝑒 + 𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑃 = 𝐷𝑤 + 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑊 + 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸

When the flow is in the negative direction, 𝑢𝑤 < 0, 𝑢𝑒 < 0 (𝐹𝑤 < 0, 𝐹𝑒 < 0), the scheme takes

𝜙𝑤 = 𝜙𝑃 𝜙𝑒 = 𝜙𝐸

Now the discretised equation is

𝐹𝑒 𝜙𝐸 − 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑃 = 𝐷𝑒 𝜙𝐸 − 𝜙𝑃 − 𝐷𝑤 𝜙𝑃 − 𝜙𝑊
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

or

𝐷𝑤 + 𝐷𝑒 − 𝐹𝑒 + 𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 𝜙𝑃 = 𝐷𝑤 𝜙𝑊 + 𝐷𝑒 − 𝐹𝑒 𝜙𝐸

Identifying the coefficients of 𝜙𝑊 and 𝜙𝐸 as 𝑎𝑊 and 𝑎𝐸 , upwind equations can be written in

the usual general form

𝑎𝑃 𝜙𝑃 = 𝑎𝑊 𝜙𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 𝜙𝐸

with central coefficient

𝑎𝑃 = 𝑎𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 + 𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

The upwind differencing scheme

and neighbour coefficients

𝑎𝑊 𝑎𝐸

𝐹𝑤 > 0, 𝐹𝑒 > 0 𝐷𝑤 + 𝐹𝑤 𝐷𝑒

𝐹𝑤 < 0, 𝐹𝑒 < 0 𝐷𝑤 𝐷𝑒 − 𝐹𝑒
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the upwind differencing scheme

Conservativeness:
The upwind differencing scheme utilizes consistent expressions to calculate fluxes through cell faces:
therefore it can be easily shown that the formulation is conservative.

Boundedness:
• The coefficients of the discretised equation are always positive and satisfy the requirements for
boundedness.
• When the flow satisfies continuity the term (𝐹𝑒 − 𝐹𝑤 ) in 𝑎𝑃 is zero and gives 𝑎𝑃 = 𝑎𝑊 + 𝑎𝐸 ,
which is desirable for stable iterative solutions. All the coefficients are positive, hence no‘wiggles’
occur in the solution.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the upwind differencing scheme

Transportiveness:
The scheme accounts for the direction of the flow so transportiveness is built into the formulation.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the upwind differencing scheme

• Because of its simplicity the upwind differencing scheme has bee widely applied in early CFD
calculations.
• A major drawback of the scheme is that it produces erroneous results when the flow is not aligned
with the grid lines.
• The upwind differencing scheme causes the distributions of the transported properties to become
smeared in such problems.
• The resulting error has a diffusion-like appearance and is referred to as false diffusion.
• The effect can be illustrated by calculating the transport of scalar property 𝜙 using upwind
differencing in a domain where the flow is at an angle to a Cartesian grid.
THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

Assessment of the upwind differencing scheme

THE FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS

ASSIGNMENT NO. 4

• Examples 5.1, and 5.2

• Write a MATLAB program to solve examples no. 5.1, 5.2.

• Compare results of both central differencing and upwind differencing schemes with
analytical solution.
• Submit the MATLAB program files along with a soft copy report including the solution of
the above problem and the program code.
• Send the report at [email protected]
• Both e-mail and submitted report titles should be with the following format :
‘CFD Course – Spring 2020 – Name of Student– Assignment No. 4’