Finite Volume Discretization Aspects for Viscous Flows on Mixed Unstructured Grids

Abstract

A solution method for compressible turbulent flows on unstructured grids in two dimensions is described. The method can be used on grids consisting of triangular and/or quadrilateral cells. Control volumes are constructed from dual cells, and the solution variables are stored at the vertices of the grid. Grid-transparent algorithms are developed that do not require knowledge of cell types, leading to simple discretization schemes on mixed grids. The inviscid fluxes are computed from limited high-resolution schemes originally developed for unstructured triangular grids. They are easily applied to quadrilateral or mixed grids and are grid transparent. The discretization of the viscous fluxes is studied in detail. A positive, grid-transparent discretization of Laplace's equation is developed. The existence of tangential derivatives in the viscous terms prevents grid transparency. By neglecting tangential derivatives, an approximate form of the viscous fluxes is developed, which recovers grid transparency. The approximate form is shown to be similar to the thin-shear-layer approximation. Results are obtained for a transonic inviscid flow, a laminar separated flow, and a transonic turbulent flow