Application of an HP-Adaptive Technique for Heat, and Momentum Transport

A three-step hp-adaptive finite element model (FEM) is employed to solve the governing equations for incompressible flow including mass and thermal transport. The adaptive FEM uses both mesh enrichment (h-adaptation) and spectral order incensement (p-adaptation) to maximize the rate of decrease of the interpolation error. The three-step adaptive methodology can be used to solve a wide variety of problems related to incompressible viscous flow including mass dispersion along with thermal transport. Highly accurate solutions are obtained using an optimally refined final mesh. The L2 energy norm is calculated to guide the adaptation procedure. Simulation results for incompressible flow over a backward facing step, natural convection in a partitioned enclosure and mass transport within a partitioned enclosure under thermal effects are presented. Results are compared with experimental data and numerical simulations reported in the literature. The efficiency of the proposed numerical technology is discussed