Testing a 3-D finite volume Navier-Stokes code in curvilinear coordinates on decaying isotropic turbulence

R. Anderson
Masters Essay, The Johns Hopkins University
May 1995, Baltimore MD

ABSTRACT: In this essay we investigate the performance of a 3-D finite volume Navier-Stokes code in non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates. It has been formulated on a non-staggered grid, and achieves conservation of mass and momentum in the same control volume by defining a volume flux on each corresponding cell face, in addition to the pressure and velocity at the cell center. The solution is advanced by the fractional step method with a semi-implicit time advancement scheme. A three-point, upstream weighted,quadratic interpolation method, QUICK, is used to discretize the convective terms. Though the code has been successfully tested in a number of scenarios by its original authors, its performance on the basic test of the decay of isotropic turbulence has not been documented. We perform this test and find reasonably good agreement with experiment, though some disagreement with regard to precise location of peak energy in the energy spectra is observed. The role of numerical dissipation and dispersion is also investigated. It is concluded that further application of this base code is feasible.

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