DEPARTMENT OF

AERONAUTICAL
ENGINEERING

Computational
fluid dynamics
REGULATIONS – 2013

VISHNU KUMAR G C
Asst. Prof. – Aero

REG NO:

NAME : _________________________

www.vishnukumar.webs.com nitvishnu@nehrucolleges.com

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aeronautical Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

ME6014 COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS L T P C
3 0 0 3
OBJECTIVES:
 To introduce Governing Equations of viscous fluid flows
 To introduce numerical modeling and its role in the field of fluid flow and heat transfer
 To enable the students to understand the various discretization methods, solution procedures
and turbulence modeling.
 To create confidence to solve complex problems in the field of fluid flow and heat transfer by
using high speed computers.

UNIT I GOVERNING EQUATIONS AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS 8

Basics of computational fluid dynamics – Governing equations of fluid dynamics – Continuity,
Momentum and Energy equations – Chemical species transport – Physical boundary conditions –
Time-averaged equations for Turbulent Flow – Turbulent–Kinetic Energy Equations – Mathematical
behaviour of PDEs on CFD - Elliptic, Parabolic and Hyperbolic equations.

UNIT II FINITE DIFFERENCE AND FINITE VOLUME METHODS FOR DIFFUSION 9

Derivation of finite difference equations – Simple Methods – General Methods for first and second
order accuracy – Finite volume formulation for steady state One, Two and Three -dimensional
diffusion problems –Parabolic equations – Explicit and Implicit schemes – Example problems on
elliptic and parabolic equations – Use of Finite Difference and Finite Volume methods.

UNIT III FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION DIFFUSION 10

Steady one-dimensional convection and diffusion – Central, upwind differencing schemes properties
of discretization schemes – Conservativeness, Boundedness, Transportiveness, Hybrid, Power-law,
QUICK Schemes.

UNIT IV FLOW FIELD ANALYSIS 9

Finite volume methods -Representation of the pressure gradient term and continuity equation –
Staggered grid – Momentum equations – Pressure and Velocity corrections – Pressure Correction
equation, SIMPLE algorithm and its variants – PISO Algorithms.

UNIT V TURBULENCE MODELS AND MESH GENERATION 9

Turbulence models, mixing length model, Two equation (k-Є) models – High and low Reynolds
number models – Structured Grid generation – Unstructured Grid generation – Mesh refinement –
Adaptive mesh – Software tools.
TOTAL: 45 PERIODS
OUTCOMES:
Upon completion of this course, the students can able
 To create numerical modeling and its role in the field of fluid flow and heat transfer
 To use the various discretization methods, solution procedures and turbulence modeling to solve
flow and heat transfer problems.

TEXT BOOKS:
1. Versteeg, H.K., and Malalasekera, W., "An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics: The
finite volume Method", Pearson Education Ltd.Second Edition – 2007.
2. Ghoshdastidar, P.S., "Computer Simulation of flow and heat transfer", Tata McGraw Hill
Publishing Company Ltd., 1998.

68
Page |1 CFD – UNIT I

UNIT I
GOVERNING EQUATIONS AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
1.1 Basics of computational fluid dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to
solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to
simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with surfaces defined by boundary conditions. It is a branch of continuum
mechanics which deals with numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer problems.

1.2 Governing equations of fluid dynamics

(a) Continuity Equation:

Element moving with flow: On differentiating both sides

Since mass is conserved, rate of change of mass = 0 D D
( m)  (  v)
Dt Dt

Mass(m) = density(ρ) x volume (v) D D

 v ( )   ( v)
Dt Dt
D  D
  ( v)
Dt  v Dt
D  D
  (.v)
Dt  v Dt
Element fixed in space :
L.H.S R.H.S
Net mass flow out of control volume through “ds” = Time rate of decrease of mass inside control volume
Mass = density x volume Mass = density x volume

= density x area x distance Mass = .dv

Rate of mass = density x area x distance/time
Time rate of
Net rate of mass = density x area x velocity 
decrease of mass = 
t  .dv
Net rate of mass =   .ds.v


Equating  .ds.v =
t  .dv

 ..v.dv =  t  .dv

 ..v.dv + t  .dv  0
  
  . v  0
t 

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |2 CFD – UNIT I

(b) Momentum Equation (x direction):

Newton IInd Law: Force = mass x acceleration

L.H.S. R.H.S
Total forces = mass x acceleration
(a) Shear forces: = density × volume × acceleration

       dxdydz 
D
In XY plane  zx  zx dz    zx  dxdy (U )
 z   Dt

  yx  
In XZ plane  yx  dz    yx  dxdz
 z  
   
In YZ plane  xx  xx dz    xx  dydz
 z  
  P  
Pressure  P   P  dx  dydz
  z  
(b) Body force = mass x force component
= density x volume x force
   dxdydz  f x

Equating the L.H.S and R.H.S, we get:

 xx  yx  P D
dxdydz  dxdydz  zx dxdydz  dxdydz    dxdydz  f x    dxdydz  (U )
x y z z Dt
 xx  yx  zx P DU
     fx  
x y z z Dt

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |3 CFD – UNIT I

(c) Energy Equation:

1st Law of thermodynamics R.H.S.

Total energy of an isolated system is constant
Net flux of heat =
Rate of change of energy inside fluid element =
 o o o 
Net flux of heat + Rate of work done + Surface forces   q 
P q dxdydz   x  z 
o q q

y
dxdydz
 x y z 
 

Rate of work done = mass x force x velocity

= density x volume x force x velocity

   dxdydz  f x  v

Surface forces - Shear forces

 u zx  
In XY plane  u zx  dz   u zx  dxdy
 z  
L.H.S
 u yx  
In XZ plane  u yx  dz   u yx  dxdz
Rate of change of energy = internal energy + Kinetic energy  z  

  v2   u xx  
   dxdydz e   In YZ plane  u xx  dz   u xx  dydz
t  2  z  
  uP  
Pressure uP   uP  dx   dydz
  z 

Equating

 o o o 
  v2  o 
 x q  q  q z  u xx u yx u zx
e  2  = P q   x  y  z  +   f x  v +  
y

t     x y z
 
1.3 Chemical species transport

Rate of change of mass of + Convection + diffusion = Rate of generation of chemical species per unit volume

Chemical species per volume

 ml
 div( uml  J )  R1 R – Generated by chemical reaction (if no reaction =0)
t

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |4 CFD – UNIT I

1.4 Physical boundary condition

In order to obtain unique solution of a PDE, a set of supplementary conditions must be provided to determine the
arbitrary functions which result from the integration of PDE.

(a) Initial condition: It is a requirement for which the dependent variable is specified at initial state.

(b) Boundary condition: It is a requirement that the dependent variable or its derivative must satisfy on the
boundary of domain.

Ex: The fluid flow of oil with kinematic viscosity of

0.000217m2/s and the spacing between the plates is
40mm. The velocity of the lower wall is specified as
U0=40m/s.
1.5 Time-averaged equations for Turbulent Flow

Turbulent Flow. In turbulent flow, the velocity components and other variables (e.g. pressure, density - if the fluid is
compressible, temperature - if the temperature is not uniform) at a point fluctuate with time in an apparently
random fashion.

In general, turbulent flow is time-dependent, rotational, and three dimensional. For instance, measurement of the
velocity component v1 at some stationary point in the flow may produce a plot. The velocity can be regarded as
consisting of an average value V1 indicated by the dashed line, plus a random fluctuation v1’.

The over score denotes average values and the prime denotes fluctuations. Turbulence will always occur for
sufficiently high Re numbers, regardless of the geometry of flow under consideration. The origin of turbulence rests

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |5 CFD – UNIT I

in small perturbations imposed on the flow; for instance, by wall roughness, by small variations in fluid density, by
mechanical vibrations, etc. At low Re numbers such disturbances are damped out by the fluid viscosity and the flow
remains laminar, but at high Re (when convective momentum transport dominates over viscous forces) they can grow
and propagate, giving rise to the chaotic phenomena perceived as turbulence. Turbulent flows can be very difficult to
analyze.

1.6 Turbulent–Kinetic Energy Equations


Idea of turbulence kinetic energy is very similar to the idea of kinetic energy. Let’s say U is velocity field. Then we

can define U  U  U '

The first equation represents kinetic energy of the mean flow (MKE) and second equation represents kinetic energy
of turbulent part of the flow (TKE). The second equation is also-called turbulent kinetic energy. Turbulent kinetic
energy is one of the most important variables in micrometeorology. It’s a measure of the intensity of turbulence. But
since the turbulence may change in time we are more interested in TKE budget equation (∂e/∂t).

1.7 Mathematical behaviour of PDEs on CFD

The governing equations of fluid flow are second order partial differential equations. Choice of the numerical
solution technique and number of initial/boundary conditions required for their solution depends on their
mathematical character. Since these equations are system of coupled with independent variables, their
mathematical classification is difficult.

Mathematical classification of quasi linear PDE is usually based on the classification procedure which is evolved for
second order PDE in two independent variables(x, y).

Where A, B, C, D, E, F and G are functions of x and y. Classification is based on the roots of the associated characteristic
equation.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |6 CFD – UNIT I

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |7 CFD – UNIT II

UNIT II
FINITE DIFFERENCE AND FINITE VOLUME METHODS FOR DIFFUSION
2.1 DERIVATIONS OF FINITE DIFFERENCE EQUATIONS:

Taylor series: Consider f ( x) - analytical function then,

f (x) 2  2 f (x)3  3 f
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)    ...
x 2! x 3! x3

1st Order Approximation

Forward Difference Backward Difference

Approximating up to 1st derivative we get Approximating up to 1st derivative we get
f f
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x) f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)
x x
f f
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x) f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)
x x
f ( x  x)  f ( x) f f ( x)  f ( x  x) f
 
x x x x
fi 1  fi f fi  fi 1 f
 O(x)   O(x) 
x x x x

Central Difference

f (x) 2  2 f f (x) 2  2 f
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)  f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x) 
x 2! x x 2! x
f (x)  f
2 2
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  x) 
x 2! x
f (x)2  2 f f (x)2  2 f
 f ( x  x)  f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)   f ( x)  (x) 
x 2! x x 2! x

f
f ( x  x)  f ( x  x)  2(x)
x

f ( x  x)  f ( x  x) f

2(x) x

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |8 CFD – UNIT II

2nd Order Approximation

f (x) 2  2 f f (2x) 2  2 f
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)  f ( x  2x)  f ( x)  (2x) 
x 2! x x 2! x
f (x)  f
2 2
f (x)2  2 f f ( x  2x)  f ( x)  2x 
2 f ( x  x)  2 f ( x)  2(x) 2 x 2 x
x 2! x
Forward Difference

f 2 f f 2 f
2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  2 f ( x)  2x  (x) 2  f ( x)  2x  2(x) 2
x x x x

2 f
2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)   f ( x)  (x) 2
x

2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  f ( x)  2 f

(x)2 x

2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  f ( x)  2 f 2 fi 1  fi  2  fi  2 f
  
(x)2 x (x) 2 x

Backward Difference

f 2 f f 2 f
2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  2 f ( x)  2x  (x) 2  f ( x)  2x  2(x) 2
x x x x

f 2 f f 2 f
2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  2 f ( x)  2x  (x) 2  f ( x)  2x  2(x) 2
x x x x

2 f
2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  f ( x)  (x) 2
x

2 f ( x  x)  f ( x  2x)  f ( x)  2 f 2 fi 1  fi  2  fi  2 f
  
(x)2 x (x)2 x

Central Difference

f (x)2  2 f f (x) 2  2 f
f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)  f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x) 
x 2! x x 2! x

f (x) 2  2 f f (x) 2  2 f
f ( x  x)  f ( x  x)  f ( x)  (x)   f ( x)  (x) 
x 2! x x 2! x

2 f
f ( x  x)  f ( x  x)  2 f ( x)  (x) 2
x

f ( x  x)  f ( x  x)  2 f ( x)  2 f fi 1  2 fi  fi 1  2 f
  
(x) 2 x (x) 2 x

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

Page |9 CFD – UNIT II

2.2 Finite volume formulation for steady state (1D)

Consider steady state diffusion of a property ϕ in a 1D domain. The process is governed by

Step 1: Grid generation

Each node is surrounded by control volume.

Dividing the domain into discrete control volumes.

Step 2: Discretization

Integration of governing equation over a control volume to yield a discretised equation at its nodal point P.

A – cross sectional area

∆V – Volume
S – source

Applying coefficient terms:

Step 3: Solution of Equations

 Discretised equations will be setup at each of the nodal points Boundary conditions will be applied to
transform it into linear algebraic equations which will be solved in matrix form.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 10 CFD – UNIT II

Example

Consider the problem of source free heat conduction in an insulated rod whose ends are maintained at constant
temperatures of 100C and 500C respectively. Calculate the steady state temperature distribution in the rod.
Thermal conductivity k equals 1000W/m/K. cross sectional area is 10x10-3m2.

Step 1 : Dividing the length of the rod into five equal control volumes which gives ∆x=0.1m

The grid consists of five nodes. General Equation is

Discretized equation
For Nodes 2,3,4:

For Node 1:

For Node 5:

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 11 CFD – UNIT II

Comparison of numerical result with exact solution.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 12 CFD – UNIT II

2.3 Finite volume formulation for steady state (3D)

Steady state diffusion in a three dimensional domain

Cell containing node P has 6 neighboring nodes as

west,east,south,north,top and bottom nodes (W,E,S,N,B,T).

Discretized equation becomes

Rearranging this

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 13 CFD – UNIT II

EXPLICIT SCHEME IMPLICIT SCHEME

Formulation with one unknown in terms of the Formulation with more than one unknown in each FDE.
known values. Resulting equation at time level n+1 Stability will be achieved with larger time step is permitted.
is solved independently to provide the values of the
unknowns. The boundary condition lag behind the
computataion by one step.
Forward time central space method Crank – Nicolson method

Finite-element method: It can locally refine the mesh close to that corner; the element density
increases locally. The finer the mesh (i.e., more elements), the more accurate approximation one gets
for the stress field around the corner of interest. All kinds of structural analysis, heat transfer, chemical
engineering, electromagnetics, multi-physics, and CFD.

Finite-difference method: Boundary conditions are needed to truncate the computational domain.
Weather calculations, astrophysics, seismology, physical realism in computer graphics, and special
effects.

Finite-volume method: The finite-volume method’s strength is that it only needs to do flux evaluation
for the cell boundaries. CFD, heat transfer, and chemical engineering.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 14 CFD – UNIT III

UNIT III
FINITE VOLUME METHOD FOR CONVECTION AND DIFFUSION
3.1 STEADY ONE DIMENSIONAL CONVECTION AND DIFFUSION:

In the absence of sources, the steady convection and diffusion of a property Ф in a one dimensional field is given by

In order to satisfy continuity

For general node P the neighboring nodes as W and E and the control volume faces by w and e.

Integration over control volume

Approximating the discretized equations defining with variables

F – Convective mass flux per unit area, D- diffusion conductance at cell faces.

Final Equation

The central difference scheme is used to approximate the diffusion terms

For East & West

side, the cell face
property is:

where

Writing in terms of coefficients of Фw , Фe and aW and aE and aP

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 15 CFD – UNIT III

3.2 PROPERTIES OF DISCRETISATION SCHEMES

3.2.1 CONSERVATIVENESS

Consider four control volumes and applying central differencing to calculate the diffusive flux across the cell faces.

Flux leaving the west face: Flux entering the east face:

Overall flux over control volume will be: Flux cancels out, since . Flux
consistency ensures conservation property over the entire domain.

3.2.2 BOUNDEDNESS

The discretized equations at each nodal point represent

a set of algebraic equations which needs to be solved.
Scarborough(1958) shown that a sufficient condition for
a convergent iterative method can be expressed as the
coefficient of discretized equations as :

Diagonal dominance is a desirable feature for boundedness which states that in the absence of sources the internal
node of the property should be bounded by its boundary values.

3.2.3 TRANSPORTIVENESS

The transportive property of fluid flow (Roache, 1996) can be defined by cell Peclet number as a measure of relative
strengths of convection and diffusion.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 16 CFD – UNIT III

3.3 UPWIND SCHEME

- Based on the backward difference formula of Taylor series
- Flow direction will be used to calculate the cell face value
- Not suitable for accurate flow calculations
- At high Reynolds number flows, false diffusion will be large enough.
- It produces erroneous results when the flow is not aligned with the grid lines which results in error
making diffusion like appearance which is referred as false diffusion. (Pe>2)
Flow in + ve direction Flow in –ve direction

Rearranging in terms of coefficients of P,W,E terms Rearranging in terms of coefficients of P,W,E terms

In a pure convection process, without physical diffusion the error is largest for the coarse grid and refining the
grid can overcome the problem of false diffusion.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 17 CFD – UNIT III

3.4 HYBRID SCHEME 3.5 POWER LAW SCHEME

- Developed by Spalding (1972) - developed by Patankar(1980)
- Combination of central and upwind schemes. - accurate approximation to the 1D problem.
- Uses piecewise formulae based on cell pecklet number to
evaluate the net flux through each face.
- Accuracy in terms of Taylor series truncation error is only
first-order.

General form of discretized equation

Central coefficient
For steady one dimensional convection-diffusion term as

3.6 QUICK SCHEME- Quadratic upwind interpolation for

convective kinetics.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 18 CFD – UNIT IV

UNIT IV
FLOW FIELD ANALYSIS
4.1 FINITE VOLUME METHODS:

 The properties are calculated for every cell

instead of a node
 Based on the integral form of conservation laws
and can handle discontinuities in solutions. In
simple terms, what comes in, must go out.
 FVM approximates the value of the integral on
the reference cell
 Efficient in solving fluid flow problems
 Like FEM, lot of established and theoretically
proven subroutines are in place for FVM which
can be directly implemented in your code.

4.2 STAGGERED GRID (Harlow and Walch -1965)

Defining velocity and pressures at the nodes of the control volume, a highly non uniform pressure field can act like a
uniform field. The pressure at the node P is not defined in equations which leads to spatial oscillations. Evaluating
scalar variables such as pressure, density, temperature at ordinary nodal points and velocity components on
staggered grids centered around cell faces.

Checkerboard approach Staggered grid approach.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 19 CFD – UNIT IV

4.3 MOMENTUM EQUATION

The discretised u-momentum equation for the velocity at location (i, J) is given by

Where

At each iteration level the values of F are computed using the u and v velocity components resulting from the
previous section.

4.4 PRESSURE AND VELOCITY CORRECTIONS

The pressure and velocity components needs to be updated at every iteration to achieve convergence.

Large value of α leads to divergent iterative solutions, and less value

leads to slow convergence. Hence it is flow dependent parameter
which needs to be analysed case by case study.

U momentum equation

v momentum equation

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 20 CFD – UNIT IV

4.5 SIMPLE ALGORITHM

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 21 CFD – UNIT IV

4.6 PISO ALGORITHM

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 22 CFD – UNIT V

UNIT V
TURBULENCE MODELS AND MESH GENERATION
5.1 TURBULENCE MODELS
A turbulence modelling is a computational procedure to close the system of mean flow equations

5.2 MIXING LENGTH MODEL

Turbulence is a function of the flow and if the turbulence changes it is necessary to account for this within the
mixing length model by varying the length scale l. It can also predict the turbulent transport of scalar quantities.
Prandtl’s mixing length model

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 23 CFD – UNIT V

5.3 K- ξ model
The thin shear layers changes in the flow direction and the influence of turbulence on the mean flow can be
analysed. It focus on the mechanisms that affect turbulent kinetic energy.

Mean Kinetic energy , turbulent kinetic energy

Instantaneous kinetic energy

Rate of deformation

The time averaged equation

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 24 CFD – UNIT V

GRID
The computational domain is selected to be rectangular in shape where the interior grid points are distributed
along the grid lines.
5.4 STRUCTURED GRID
If the grids are aligned with the grid lines with good mapping and uniform spacing it is structured grid.
Physical domain Computational domain

5.4.1 ALGEBRAIC GRID GENERATION

It relates the grid points in the computational domain to physical domain. Interpolation scheme is specified
between the grid points to generate the interior grid points.

Advantages
1. Computationally they are fast
2. Metrics may be evaluated analytically, avoiding numerical errors
3. Ability to cluster grid points in different regions which can be easily implemented
Disadvantages:
1. Discontinuities at a boundary may propogate into the interior region which could lead to errors due to
sudden change in the metrics.
2. Control of grid smoothness and skewness is difficult task.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 25 CFD – UNIT V

5.5 UNSTRUCTURED GRID

The finite difference equations approximating the partial differential equations are solved within a rectangular,
equally spaced grid system. For non-rectangular physical domain, a coordinate transformation to computational
space is required. The domain will be divided into triangles in 2D and tetrahedral in 3D.

5.5.1 ADVANCING FRONT METHOD

1. All the edges along the Step 1 Step 3

initial boundary conditions
of the domain are
numerated in order.
2. All the interior nodes are
saved in array I.
3. A search is conducted to
locate nodes which
includes edges. -
4. The most suitable node will Step 2
have minimum norm
distance
Lsi2+Lsa2=minimum.
5. Steps will be followed till
the removal of all edges.
Triangulation will be
completed.

Grid system requirements:

1. A mapping which makes one to one correspondence ensuring grid lines of the same family which do not cross
each other.
2. Smoothness of the grid point distribution.
3. Orthogonally or near orthogonally of the grid lines.
4. Options for grid point clustering.

Structured grid arrangement over different models

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore

P a g e | 26 CFD – UNIT V

DELAUNAY METHOD

 Triangulations of concave domains Is difficult which is generated

outside the domain.
 Extra effort is required to identify and remove the triangles which
are generated outside the domain.
 Steps:
 The x and y coordinate of all the N points are normalized with
respect to the largest length in the domain
 Three points are added to form a supertriangle which completely
encompasses all of the N points.
 The vertices of the triangle need not to be too close and triangle list
of array T is listed.
 Introducing the first point and triangulate it. The process is
repeated till all triangles are formed inside.
ADAPTIVE MESH
The mesh needs to be adapted according to the physical domain under consideration. The grid generating
procedure needs to be specified with the areas which needs to be adapted accordingly.

MESH REFINEMENT
Consider the grid of a cross section. The outer boundary of the free stream will be far away to capture the flow
properties around it.

VISHNUKUMAR G C, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Aerospace Engg., NIT,Coimbatore