A numerical technique to solve a problem of the fluid motion in a straight plane rigid duct with two axisymmetric rectangular constrictions. An alternative approach

Abstract

A numerical technique is devised to solve a problem of the steady laminar fluid motion in a straight plane hard-walled duct with two local axisymmetric rectangular constrictions. It uses the stream function, the vorticity and the pressure as the basic variables, has the second order of accuracy in the spatial and the first order of accuracy in the temporal coordinates, provides high stability of a solution, and needs significantly less computational time to obtain a result compared to appropriate techniques available in a scientific literature. The technique consists in: a) introducing the stream function and the vorticity, and subsequent transiting from the non-dimensional governing relations for the fluid velocity and the pressure to the corresponding non-dimensional relations for the stream function, the vorticity and the pressure; b) deriving their discrete counterparts in the nodes of the chosen space-time computational grid; c) integrating the systems of linear algebraic equations obtained after making the discretization. The discretization is based on applying appropriate differencing schemes to the terms of the equations for the basic variables. These are the two-point temporal onward difference for the unsteady term of the vorticity equation, as well as the two-point backward differences (for its convective term) and the five-point approximations (for its diffusive term and for the Poisson’s equations for the stream function and the pressure) in the axial and cross-flow coordinates. As for the velocity components, the appropriate central differences are applied to discretize their expressions. The above-mentioned systems of linear algebraic equations for the stream function and the pressure are integrated by the iterative successive over-relaxation method. The algebraic relation for the vorticity does not need application of any method to be solved, because it is a computational scheme to find this quantity based on the known magnitudes computed at the previous instant of time.