An OpenFOAM face-centred solver for incompressible flows robust to mesh distortion

2024-12-31

AI Summary

Conventional cell-centered finite volume (CCFV) methods in OpenFOAM suffer from low accuracy and numerical instability when solving incompressible laminar flows on severely distorted, highly skewed (>85°), or strongly non-orthogonal meshes. Method: This work introduces, for the first time within the OpenFOAM framework, a face-centered finite volume (FCFV) paradigm and develops corresponding steady-state and transient pressure–velocity coupled solvers for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Unlike CCFV, FCFV decouples solution accuracy from mesh quality, eliminating the need for mesh correction or skewness-based stabilization. Results: Numerical experiments across multiple benchmark cases demonstrate that the new solver achieves faster convergence, higher accuracy, and superior robustness compared to simpleFoam and pimpleFoam. Crucially, it maintains second-order convergence and remains numerically stable even under extreme mesh distortion—conditions where conventional solvers diverge.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: 3D Computer Vision
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Search and Optimization: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Data management and stream processing for Web, mobile and wireless applications
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods

Abstract

This work presents an overview of mesh-induced errors commonly experienced by cell-centred finite volumes (CCFV), for which the face-centred finite volume (FCFV) paradigm offers competitive solutions. In particular, a robust FCFV solver for incompressible laminar flows is integrated in OpenFOAM and tested on a set of steady-state and transient benchmarks. The method outperforms standard simpleFoam and pimpleFoam algorithms in terms of optimal convergence, accuracy, stability, and robustness. Special attention is devoted to motivate and numerically demonstrate the ability of the FCFV method to treat non-orthogonal, stretched, and skewed meshes, where CCFV schemes exhibit shortcomings.

Problem

• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Grid Conformation
• OpenFOAM Accuracy

Innovation

• Optimized Face-Centered Finite Volume Method
• Improved Accuracy and Stability
• Integrated OpenFOAM Implementation