In this work, a code has been developed that solves the Navier-Stokes equations using the finite volume method with unstructured triangular grids. A cell-centred, finite volume method is used and the pressure-velocity coupling is treated using both the SMTLE and the MAC algorithms. The major advantage of using triangular grids is their applicability to complex geometry. A special treatment is developed to ensure good quality triangular elements around the boundaries. The numerical simulation of incompressible flow at low Reynolds number is studied in this thesis. A code for generating triangular grids using the tri-tree algorithm has been written and an adaptive finite volume method developed for calculating laminar fluid flow. The grid is locally adapted at each time step, with grid refinement and derefinement dependent on the vorticity magnitude. The resulting grids have fine local resolution and are economical in reducing the numerical simulation time. The discretised equations are solved by using an iterative point by point Gauss-Seidel solver. For calculating the values of velocity and pressure at vertices of triangular grids, special interpolation schemes (averaged linear-interpolation and scattered interpolation) are used to increase the accuracy. To avoid the well known checkerboard error problems, i. e., the oscillations occurring in the pressure field, third derivative terms in pressure, first introduced by Rhie-chow (1983), are added to the mass flux velocity. Convective terms are approximated using a QUICK (Quadratic Upstream Interpolation for Convective Kinematics) differencing scheme which has been developed here in for unstructured grids. Three cases of two-dimensional viscous incompressible fluid flow have been investigated: the first is channel flow, in which the numerical results are compared with the analytical solution; the second case is the backward-facing step flow; and the third case is flow past circular cylinders at low Reynolds number (Re). The numerical results obtained for the last two cases are compared with published data. The evolution of vortex shedding is presented for the case of unidirectional flow past a circular cylinder at Re=200. In addition, drag and lift force coefficients are calculated and compared for single and multiple cylinders in unidirectional flow.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:325638 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Hu, Zheng Zheng |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1348853/ |
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