The SIMPLE Algorithm for Pressure-Velocity Coupling

ME 448/548 Notes Gerald Recktenwald Portland State University Department of Mechanical Engineering gerry@me.pdx.edu February 9, 2012

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Overview
CFD modelling involves these steps 1. Dene the geometry of the uid volume 2. Locate boundary regions and assign values to boundary condition parameters 3. Specify uid physics (e.g., buoyancy, turbulence, radiation) and thermophysical properties 4. Create the mesh 5. Dene parameters that control the solution 6. Solve the ow model 7. View the results Commercial CFD packages have preprocessors that help with setting up the model and viewing the results. The order of preprocessing steps may be dierent for dierent CFD packages. Step 6 is usually performed without direct user intervention. The user controls the solution and views the results after the solution has been obtained.
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Basic CFD Solver

Well survey the features of a basic nite-volume CFD code in the following order.

Staggered Mesh Basic Discretization Velocity and Pressure Corrections Algorithm Summary Convergence

The staggered mesh is not absolutely required, but it is the simplest strategy for incompressible ow calculations. Many codes use non-staggered or unstructured meshes. We only use a staggered mesh here to explain pressure-velocity coupling. Reference: Ferziger and Peri, ,7.5.1, pp. 188196 c Tu, Yeoh, and Liu, 4.3.3

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Structured and Unstructured Meshes

The SIMPLE algorithm can be developed for non-staggered, unstructured meshes. We will use the case of a staggered, structured mesh because the nomenclature is simpler. It is also the historical origin of the method. Structured Meshes: Cells (nodes) are arranged in rows and columns
Lx ny

y
... Ly 3 2 j=1 i=1 x 3 ...

nx

Each cell has the same number of neighbors. The connectivity is regular and uniform.
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Structured and Unstructured Meshes

Unstructured Meshes: Cells and nodes are not arranged in rows and columns.

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Structured and Unstructured Meshes

Unstructured Meshes: Cells and nodes can have arbitrary connectivity.

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Staggered Grid
Main control volume

Elementary CFD codes use staggered mesh Velocities are computed at cell faces Pressure is computed at cell centers

N n W uw P s S ue E W

N P s S E

N uw P W S Control volume and neighbors of uw E

Control volume and neighbors of s

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Basic Discretization 2D (1)

For a two-dimensional, incompressible ow, applying the nite volume method on a staggered mesh leads to this set of equations for each interior control volume

aS ui,j1 aW ui1,j + aP ui,j aE ui+1,j aN ui,j+1 = aS vi,j1 aW vi1,j + aP vi,j aE vi+1,j aN vi,j+1 ui+1,j ui,j vi,j+1 vi,j + =0 x y
v v v v v

pi1,j pi,j (u) + bo xw pi,j1 pi,j (v) + bo ys

where b(u) and b(v) are source terms due to non-uniform viscosity, gravity, and other o o eects. These equations are nonlinear. For example, if the central dierence scheme is used,

aE = F (ui,j , ui+1,j , , geometry)

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Basic Discretization 2D (2)

The coupled system of equations looks like this for a staggered, structured, 2D mesh.

u bo

bu o

Lines in the coecient matrix represent the position of non-zero entries.

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Segregated Solution Procedure (1)

Apply nite-volume discretization separately to each momentum equation For u equation, v and p are frozen For v equation, u and p are frozen Each equation results in linearized system A
(u)

u=b

(u) (v)

(v)

v=b

where the momentum source terms consist of pressure terms and other terms due to velocity gradients and non-uniform viscosity.

(u) (v)

= bo bp = bo bp
(v)

(u)

(u)

(v)

b(u) and b(v) are contributions due to the frozen pressure eld (p). p p
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Segregated Solution Procedure (2)

Discretization of momentum equations results in non-linear, coupled system of equations for u and v . (in 2D) (u) (u) (v) (v) A u=b A v=b

A(u) is the coecient matrix, and b(u) is the source term (vector) for the u equation when v and p are frozen. A(v) is the coecient matrix, and b(v) is the source term (vector) for the v equation when u and p are frozen. Momentum equations are nonlinear, so A(u) and A(v) depend on u and v . Nonlinearity requires iterative solution: A(u) and A(v) are updated with new values of u and v , and the systems are solved again.
What about the continuity equation? Where is the equation for pressure?
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Pressure in Momentum Source Terms

Pressure is the dominant source term in the momentum equations

(u)

u=b

(u)

where where

(u)

= bP + bo
(v)

(u)

(u)

du(pW pP ) + . . . + bo dv (pS pP ) + . . . + bo

(u)

(v)

v=b

(v)

(v)

= bP + bo

(v)

(v)

The du and dv are coecients that depend on the geometry of of the control volume. Note: The symbol is meant to convey the basic features of the terms, and allows a degree of notational abuse. To make these expressions more precise, read the symbol as contains terms like.

Pressure does not have its own natural equation for incompressible ow.

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Pressure Correction and Continuity (1)

Solution to the linearized momentum equations
x N n W uw P s S ue E y

(u)

u=b v=b

(u) (v)

(v)

gives updated u and v elds.

In general these new u and v elds will not satisfy the continuity equation for each cell

uw y uey + vsx vnx = 0

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Pressure Correction and Continuity (2)

Assume that we can nd a velocity correction at each node that adjusts the velocity eld so that it satises the continuity equation.

uw = uw + uw vs = vs + vs uw and vs are the velocity components that satisfy the continuity equation. uw and vs are the velocity components obtained by satisfying the momentum equations. uw and vs are the corrections to the velocity components needed to satisfy the continuity equation.

(1) (2)

Equations (1) and (2) dene uw , and vs values for each cell in the domain. The uw and vs elds are obtained by solving the momentum equations. We need to develop another procedure for computing the uw and vs elds. Ultimately the uw and vs elds are obtained by requiring each cell to satisfy the continuity equation.
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Pressure Correction and Continuity (3)

Assume that the velocity corrections can be derived from suitable pressure corrections

pP = pP + pP

(3)

pP is the desired pressure at the cell center, i.e., the one that brings the velocity eld into balance so that continuity equation is satised for each cell. pP is the current guess at the pressure at the cell center. pP is the change in pP needed to satisfy the continuity equation.

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Pressure Correction and Continuity (4)

Unifying assumption: Assume that the velocity corrections are uniquely determined by the pressure corrections.

uw cw (pW pP ) vs cs(pS pP )
where cw and cs are coecients that depend on terms from the momentum equation (weve skipped a couple of steps here).

(4) (5)

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Pressure Correction and Continuity (5)

Tying the velocity corrections to the pressure corrections allows us to close the system of equations. An equation for the p is obtained by substituting the Equations (1), (2), (4), and (5) into the continuity equation. The result is

A
where

(p )

p =b

(p )

(p )

uw y uey + vsx vnx

In words: The source term for the p eld is the local error in the continuity equation.

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The Pieces (in 2D)

The momentum equations

(u)

u=b

(u)

(v)

v=b

(v)

( )

The pressure correction equation

A
Momentum and pressure corrections

(p )

p =b

(p )

u=u+u

v =v+v

p=p+p

u and v are the solutions to Equations ( ) obtained when the previous eld variables (u, v , and p) are used to compute A(u), b(u), A(v) and b(v). p is the pressure eld from the previous global iteration. p is the solution to Equation ( and v .
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) when b(p ) is computed from the newly obtained u

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SIMPLE Algorithm
Initialize the velocity and pressure elds, then iterate until convergence: 1. Compute A(u) and b(u), and solve A(u)u = b(u) to obtain u, a tentative guess at the x-direction velocity eld. 2. Compute A(v) and b(v), and solve A(v)v = b(v) to obtain v , a tentative guess at the (v) (v) y -direction velocity eld. Note that A and b use the most recently available u eld, and the v eld from the previous iteration 3. Compute A(p ) and b(p ), and solve A(p )p = b(p ) to obtain the pressure correction eld p . 4. Correct the velocities and pressures.

pP pP + pP

uw uw + uw

v s vs + vs

5. Test for convergence, and return to Step 1 if not converged. The SIMPLE algorithm is described by Patankar [2] and Ferzier and Peri [1, 7.5.1], and c Yao et al., 4.3.3.
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Convergence Checking (1)

Each time through the SIMPLE loop, A(u) and b(u) are updated with the newest information about the u, v and p elds. Before solving
(u) (u)

A
compute the residual
(u)

u=b
(u)

r =b A u If r (u) is small, then the old u is a good approximation to the system of equations dened by the newly updated coecients in A(u) and b(u).
Similarly,
(v) (v) (v)

(u)

r =b A v is a measure of how well the old v satises the linearized equations based on the newly updated coecients in A(v) and b(v)

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Convergence Checking (2)

r (u) and r (v) are residual vectors. To check convergence, we need to look at a scalar value. Let be a normalized scalar value of the residual. u =
The values of ru,ref iteration.

ru ru,ref

v =

rv rv,ref

and rv,ref

are chosen so that u 1 and v 1 on the rst

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Convergence Checking (3)

For the pressure correction equation, the residuals are not as informative as the source term (p ) b uw y uey + vsx vnx If b(p ) is small, then the current guess at the velocity eld comes close to satisfying the continuity equation before the pressure and velocity corrections are applied. To check convergence of the continuity equation, monitor c

c =
Recall that x

b(p ) b(p )

,ref

is equivalent to max |xi|

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Monitoring Residuals
Convergence history for one case of the Tesla valve analysis:
Residuals 1

0.1

0.01 Continuity Residual Xmomentum Ymomentum Zmomentum 0.001

1E4

1E5 0

100

200 Iteration

300

400

500

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Summary

SIMPLE is a segregated solution method: The u, v , w, and p elds are solved separately. Coupling between these eld variables is achieved via velocity and pressure corrections. Convergence occurs when the residuals for each of the equations is reduced to a value below a tolerance. The residuals are normalized scalars. The normalization is chosen so that 1 on the rst iteration. c is the largest local (cell-wise) error in the continuity equation before the pressure-based corrections to the velocity elds are applied. After the velocity eld is corrected, local mass conservation is obtained for all cells. Thus, at the end of each iteration of SIMPLE, both global and local mass conservation is guaranteed. In version 6.06 of StarCCM+, the default stopping criterion is to run the simulation for 1000 outer iterations. Turning on convergence checking requires user action.

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Adding a Convergence Criterion in Star-CCM+

To add a convergence criterion in Star-CCM+ 1. Right click on Stopping Criteria 2. Select Create from Monitor and select one of the eld variables. I recommend using Continuity as a baseline convergence constraint. For harder problems, one of the turbulence eld variables or temperature might also be used as a convergence contraint.

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Recommendations

Always inspect the residual plot after each run. If the residual tolerances have not been met, restart the solution, using the last iteration as a starting point. (Dont start from scratch.) For some hard problems, other adjustments to the solution parameters might be necessary in order obtain convergence.

References
[1] Joel H. Ferziger and Milovan Peri. Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, third edition, 2001. c [2] S.V. Patankar. Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow. Hemisphere, Washington D.C., 1980.

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