A multigrid accelerated hybrid unstructured mesh method for 3D compressible turbulent flow

• Published in: Computational mechanics Vol. 31; no. 1-2; pp. 101 - 114
• Main Authors: SØRENSEN, K. A, HASSAN, O, MORGAN, K, WEATHERILL, N. P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer 01.05.2003; Berlin Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerodynamics; Applied fluid mechanics; Compressibility; Computational fluid dynamics; Computational methods in fluid dynamics; Computational techniques; Computer simulation; Exact sciences and technology; Finite element method; Finite volume method; Finite-difference methods; Flow equations; Fluid dynamics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Mathematical methods in physics; Physics; Prisms; Pyramids; Steady flow; Tetrahedra; Three dimensional flow; Turbulence models; Turbulent flow
• ISSN: 0178-7675; 1432-0924
• DOI: 10.1007/s00466-002-0397-9

A cell vertex finite volume method for the solution of steady compressible turbulent flow problems on unstructured hybrid meshes of tetrahedra, prisms, pyramids and hexahedra is described. These hybrid meshes are constructed by firstly discretising the computational domain using tetrahedral elements and then by merging certain tetrahedra. A one equation turbulence model is employed and the solution of the steady flow equations is obtained by explicit relaxation. The solution process is accelerated by the addition of a multigrid method, in which the coarse meshes are generated by agglomeration, and by parallelisation. The approach is shown to be effective for the simulation of a number of 3D flows of current practical interest.