Finite Volume Method:

Basic Principles and Examples

G. Naveen Kumar
Tutor: Professor Suman Chakraborty
Indian Institute of Technology,Kharagpur

Outline
General Transport Equation
Concept of Discretization

Methods of deriving discretization equations

Finite Volume Method: Introduction
Finite Volume Method for 1D Steady state Diffusion
Finite Volume Method for 1D Unsteady state Diffusion
Finite Volume Method for 2D and 3D Diffusion problems
Conservativeness,Boundedness,Transportiveness
Four Basic Rules

Summary

GENERAL TRANSPORT EQUATION

( ) div( V ) div(grad )+S

t
Unsteady Term

where

Convection Term

Diffusion Term

Source Term

dependent variable, stands for quantities like mass

fraction of a chemical species, enthalpy or temperature,

velocity component

diffusion coefficient

GENERAL TRANSPORT EQUATION

( ) div( V ) div(grad )+S

t

Rate of
increase of
within control
volume

Net rate at
which
leaves
control
volume due to
fluid motion

Net rate at
which
enters
control
volume due
to diffusion

Rate at which
is generated
within control
volume

CONCEPT OF DISCRETIZATION

Obtaining
discretized equation
Represent the
calculation domain
through discrete
points

Discretization of
space

Obtain governing
discretized algebraic
equation from
governing differential
equation

Solve the system of

algebraic equations by
a suitable solution
method

Solution of algebraic
equations

METHODS OF DERIVING
DISCRETIZATION EQUATIONS
Taylor-Series Formulation:

Usual method for deriving finite-difference equations

Approximating the derivatives in the differential equation via a

truncated Taylor series.

Variational Formulation:

Minimizing the functional with respect to the grid-point values of

the dependent variable.

METHODS OF DERIVING
DISCRETIZATION EQUATIONS
Method of Weighted Residuals:
Differential Equation : L 0
Approximate Solution :
On substitution into differential equation leaves a residual

R L( )
Make this residual small in some sense by proposing that

RWdx 0
where W is a weighting function and the integration is
performed over the domain of interest.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD:

INTRODUCTION
Special case of Weighted Residual Method where W = 1

over one subdomain(control volume) at a time and zero

everywhere else.
Attractive feature of this choice: Discretization

equation expresses the conservation of for the finite

control volume and over the whole calculation

domain(subject to certain requirements).

FINITE VOLUME METHOD:

INTRODUCTION
Step 1: Discretization of space:

Divide the calculation domain into a number of non overlapping

control volumes such that there is one control volume
surrounding each grid point.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD:

INTRODUCTION
Step 2: Obtaining Discretized Equation:

Integration of the differential equation over each control

volume and the evaluation of the required integrals by
proper profile assumptions which express the variation of
between the grid points.
Step 3: Solving the above system of discretized
algebraic equations to obtain the values of at grid
points.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Governing differential equation:

( ) div( V ) div(grad )+S

t
d d

S 0
dx dx
Special case of diffusion: Heat conduction

d dT
k
dx dx

S 0

where k=thermal conductivity; T=temperature;

S=rate of heat generation per unit volume

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Step 1:Discretization of space(Grid Generation):
x

x w

x e

Grid-point cluster for 1D problem

P: General grid point

E: Grid point to east of P
W: Grid point to
west of p
e,w: faces of control
volume

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Step 2: Obtaining Discretization Equation

Integrating the governing differential equation over

control volume
x
d dT
w dx k dx
e

S dx 0

x w

x e

dT dT
k
k
Sdx 0
dx e dx w w
e

dT
We require a profile assumption to evaluate
terms
dx

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION

Stepwise profile
Stepwise Profile:

dT
dx

Piecewise-linear profile

is not defined at control volume faces( i.e., at w

or e)
Simplest profile that doesnt suffer from this difficulty is Piecewiselinear profile.
kw TP TW
dT ke TE TP dT
; k
k


x e dx w
x w
dx e

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Source term:
Often S is a function of dependent variable T.
Formally we can account only for a linear dependence
Hence linearizing S-T relationship as = +
e

Sdx S
w

S PT dx

SC x S P Tdx
w

SC S PTP x

Assuming stepwise temperature profile

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Discretization Equation:
ke TE TP k w TP TW

SC S PTP x 0
x e
x w

Frequently written as

aPTP aETE aW TW b
where aE

ke
,
x e

aW

kw
,
x w

aP aE aW S P x,
b SC x

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Comments:
In general, the discretization equation takes the form

aPTP anbTnb b
where nb = neighbour and the summation is to be done over all the
neighbours

For a given variable, same profile need not be used for all

terms in the equation.

We have used a piecewise-linear profile of T for evaluating dT/dx
terms and stepwise profile of T for source term.

This freedom of choice is one of the greatest

advantages of Finite Volume Method.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Positive coefficients: All coefficients ( and

neighbour coefficients ) must be always be positive.

aPTP aETE aW TW b
An increase in the value of T at neighbouring node lead to an
increase and not a decrease in value of T at that node.
Negative-slope linearization of the source term:

aP aE aW S P x
When the source term is linearized as S = + , the
coefficient must always be less than or equal to zero.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Implementation of Boundary Conditions:
Types of Boundary Conditions in Heat Conduction:
1. Dirichlet Condition: Given boundary temperature

No additional equations required

Neumann Condition: Given boundary heat flux
3. Mixed Boundary Condition: Boundary heat flux specified via
heat transfer coefficient and temperature of surrounding fluid
2.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Integrating the governing
differential equation over this
half control volume
dT dT
k
k
Sdx 0
dx i dx B B
i

qB qi SC S PTB x 0
qB

ki TB TI
SC S PTB x 0
x i

aBTB aI TI b

where

aI

ki
,
x i

b SC x qB ,
aB aI S P x,

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D STEADY STATE DIFFUSION
If the boundary heat flux specified via heat transfer
coefficient and temperature of surrounding fluid
ki TB TI
qB
SC S PTB x 0
x i
qB h(T f TB )

aBTB aI TI b

where aI

ki
,
x i

b SC x hT f ,
aB aI S P x h,

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Governing Differential Equation for unsteady one-

dimensional Heat conduction without any sources:

T
T
c
k

t x x

Time is a one-way coordinate.

Task in a typical time step: Given the grid-point values of

T at time , find the grid-point values at time +

Old values of T at grid points: TP0 , TE0 , TW0
New values at time + : TP , TE , TW

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Integrating over the control volume, over the interval to +
e t t

c
w

e t t

c
w

T
dtdx
t

T
w x k x

T
w x k x

dxdt

t t

Assumption:

t t

dxdt

T
dtdx c T T 0 dx cx TP TP0
t
w

t t e

t t e

x w

x e

ke TE TP k w TP TW

dt
x w
x e

TP dt fTP 1 f TP0 t

where f is a weighting factor between 0 and 1.

ke TE 0 TP 0 k w TP 0 TW

k
T

T
k
T

x
c TP TP0 f e E P w P W 1 f

x
w
e
x w

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Rearranging,

aPTP aE fTE 1 f TE0 aW fTW 1 f TW0 aP0 1 f aE 1 f aW TP0

where aE
aW

ke

x e
kw

x w

,
,

cx
,
t
aP faE faW aP0

aP0

t t

f 0

T dt T
P

0
P

: Explicit Scheme

t t

f 1

T dt T t
P

: Fully Implicit Scheme

t t

f 0.5

TP0 TP
TP dt
t : Crank-Nicolson Scheme
2

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Explicit Scheme:

aPTP aETE0 aW TW0 aP0 aE aW TP0

0
0
0
is explicitly obtained in terms of TP , TE , TW
Conditionally Stable
Positive coefficient criterion:

aP0 aE aW
For uniform conductivity and x x e x w

c x

2k

As we reduce x to improve spatial accuracy, we are

forced to use a much smaller t.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Crank-Nicolson scheme:
TE TE0
aPTP aE
aW
2

TW TW0 0 aE aW 0

aP
TP
2
2

Unconditionally Stable
Positive coefficient criterion:
aE aW

aP0

For uniform conductivity and x x e x w

c x

k
Suitable only for small time intervals.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

1D UNSTEADY STATE DIFFUSION
Fully Implicit Scheme:

aPTP aETE aW TW b
Unconditionally Stable
Coefficients are always positive

Closer to reality especially for large time steps.

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

2D DIFFUSION
Control Volume for 2-D Diffusion:

Governing Differential Equation:

c

T T
k
t x x

T
k
y y

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

2D DIFFUSION
Assumption: Heat flux at control volume face between P

and E prevails over the entire face of area 1.

Discretization Equation:

aPTP aETE aW TW aN TN aSTS b

where aE
aW
aN
aS
aP0

ke y

x e
k w y

x w
k n x

y n
k s x

y s

,
,
,
,

cxy
t

b SC xy aP0 TP0 ,
aP aE aW aN aS aP0 S P xy

FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR

3D DIFFUSION
Discretization Equation:
aPTP aETE aW TW aN TN aSTS aT TT aBTB b
where a E

k e y z

aW
aN
aS
aT
aB
aP
0

k w y z

k n z x

kT xy

k s xy

k s z x

cxy z
t

b S C xy z a PTP ,
0

aP aE aW a N aS

aT aB aP0 S P xyz

Conservativeness, Boundedness and

Transportiveness
Fundamental properties that must be satisfied by the

discretization scheme for physically realistic results:

Conservativeness

Boundedness
Transportiveness

Conservativeness, Boundedness and

Transportiveness
Conservativeness: Ensures the conservation of over

the entire calculation domain.

Consistency of fluxes at control volume faces:
When a face is common to two adjacent control volumes, the flux
across it must be represented by the same expression in the
discretization equations for the two control volumes.
Example: Flux inconsistency resulting from quadratic profile.

Conservativeness, Boundedness and

Transportiveness
Boundedness:

Scarborough criterion: A sufficient condition for the convergence

of an iterative method is

nb

aP

for all equations

1

1 for atleast one equation

Resulting matrix of coefficients is Diagonally dominant

Diagonally dominant In the absence of sources, the internal

nodal values of T will be bounded by its boundary values.

Negative-slope linearization of the source term helps diagonal
dominance.
All coefficients of the discretized equations should have the
same sign(usually all positive).

Conservativeness, Boundedness and

Transportiveness
Transportiveness:
F
u
Peclet number is defined as P e
D x
where x characteristic length
Pe is a measure of the relative strengths of convection and diffusion.

Distribution of in the vicinity of two sources at W and E at different

Peclet numbers:
Pe 0

Conservativeness, Boundedness and

Transportiveness
Transportiveness:
In case of pure diffusion( 0),the conditions at P are

influenced by both sources at W and E.

As Pe increases, influencing becomes increasingly biased
towards the upstream direction.

Conditions at P will be mainly influenced by upstream source at

W.
In case of pure convection( ),the conditions at P are

unaffected by downstream source at E and completely

dictated by upstream source at W.
Relationship between the directionality of influencing and
the flow direction and magnitude of Peclet number, is known
as Transportiveness.

FOUR BASIC RULES

Rule 1: Consistency at Control-Volume Faces:

When a face is common to two adjacent control

volumes, the flux across it must be represented by the
same expression in the discretization equations for the
two control volumes.
Rule 2: Positive coefficients:
All coefficients ( and neighbour coefficients )
must be of same sign.

FOUR BASIC RULES

Rule 3: Negative-slope linearization of the source

term:
When the source term is linearized as S = + , the
coefficient must always be less than or equal to zero.
Rule 4: Sum of the neighbour coefficients:

aPTP aETE aW TW b
We require aP anb
for situations where the differential equation continues to
remain satisfied after a constant is added to dependent variable.

SUMMARY
In Finite Volume Method:
Calculation domain is divided into a number of non-

overlapping control volumes.

Discretized equations are derived by integrating the
governing differential equation over each control volume in
contrast to finite difference method.
General form of discretized equation:

aPTP anbTnb b

Implementation of Boundary conditions is easier.

Issues like coservativeness,boundedness and transportiveness

can be easily addressed.

REFERENCES
Lecture notes of Professor Suman Chakraborty
Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow by

Suhas V. Patankar : Discretization Methods and Heat

Conduction.
An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics by
H K Versteeg and W Malalasekera : The finite volume
method for diffusion problems and finite volume method
for convection-diffusion problems.
Previous year's talks.

Thank you for your kind attention