Abstract

SANDONE, Eugenio. Numerical solution of turbulent flow equations based on characteristic lines by means of the finite element method: Part one: Full structured multi-block domains. Rev. Fac. Ing. UCV [online]. 2013, vol.28, n.2, pp.87-100. ISSN 0798-4065.

This paper presents the results obtained by the application of a homemade computational code based on the finite element method for solving the Navier-Stokes, continuity and energy equations derived from the turbulent flow of a single phase Newtonian fluid. This code was completely developed by the author at the Mechanical Engineering School of “University Central de Venezuela”. A specific strategy based on characteristic lines was selected and applied to time-fixed grids. A fractional time step was used to solve the partial differential equations in a sequential scheme, showing good damping performances, based on the Courant condition applied during the whole calculation. In order to evaluate the performance of the computational code at its first stage, the bi-dimensional, turbulent, incompressible and isothermal cross flow around a circular cylinder was solved. The computational domain was divided in a predetermined number of blocks. Since the common frontiers between a pair of blocks match each other with the same number of boundary elements, a full structured grid of the whole domain was obtained. The solution was compared with experimental and numerical results suitable for the geometry analyzed.

Keywords : Turbulent flow; Large eddy simulation; Finite element method; Multi-block grids; Characteristic lines.

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