Pressure based finite volume algorithm for viscous flow computation

The present lecture deals with issues related mainly to the geometric and algorithmic complexities, i.e. how to handle irregular shaped arbitrary geometry and how a generalized pressure-based algorithm is developed which can, in principle, compute flows at all speeds ranging from incompressible to hypersonic. The pressure-based method is emphasized since it is not covered in details in most of the currently available textbooks and the methodology has reached a certain maturity during the last three decades so that it can adequately handle many issues encountered in flow problems of engineering interest. Section 2 discusses the different possibilities and provides some strategies for the development of general, accurate and efficient pressure-based finite volume algorithms for prediction of flow in complex configurations. Section 3 provides the detailed formulation of a particular pressure-based algorithm developed by the author and his colleagues at the University Karlsruhe, Germany and NAL, Bangalore. Some interesting application examples of incompressible and compressible flow are illustrated in Section 4 to demonstrate the universality and capability of the algorithm whereas, Section 5 presents a few concluding remarks