Numerical simulation of low-Reynolds number flows past

Numerical simulation of low-Reynolds number
flows past rectangular cylinders based on
adaptive finite element and finite volume
methods
S. Berrone a , V. Garbero a,b , M. Marro c
a Dipartimento
di Matematica, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24,
10129 Torino, Italy
b Golder
c Dipartimento
Associates s.r.l., Via Banfo 43, 10155 Torino, Italy
di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli
Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Abstract
The flow past rectangular cylinders has been investigated by two different numerical
techniques, an adaptive finite-element (AFEM) and a finite-volume method (FVM).
A square and a rectangular cylinder with chord-to-depth equal to 5 are taken into
account. 2D computations have been performed for different Reynolds numbers in
order to consider different flow regimes, i.e. the stationary flow, the periodic flow
and the turbulent flow. The comparison between the two methods regarded both
the accuracy of the solutions and the computational performances. Concerning the
accuracy, the velocity profiles and integral parameters such as Strouhal number,
drag coefficient and recirculation length have been compared. The computational
effort has been evaluated in terms of used degrees of freedom in space and time. We
have found good agreement between the adaptive FE and FVM computations, as
well as with literature results. A relevant outcome is the large saving of human and
computational resources that results from the application of an adaptive strategy.
Key words: Navier Stokes equations, space-time adaptive techniques, a posteriori
error estimators, finite volume schemes, CFD, flow past rectangular cylinders
Email addresses: [email protected] (S. Berrone),
[email protected] (V. Garbero), [email protected] (M.
Marro).