A CONTROL VOLUME FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD FOR TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER

Abstract

The formulation of a general numerical method for two-dimensional incompressible flow and heat transfer in irregular-shaped domains is presented. The calculation domain is first divided into six-node macroelements. Then each macroelement is divided into four three-node triangular subelements. Polygonal control volumes are associated with the nodes of these elements. All dependent variables other than pressure are stored at the nodes of the subelements, and they are interpolated by functions that respond appropriately to an element Peclet number and the direction of an element-averaged velocity vector. The pressure is stored only at the vertices of the macroelements and is interpolated linearly in these elements. The discretization equations are obtained by deriving algebraic approximations to integral conservation equations applied to the polygonal control volumes. An iterative procedure akin to SIMPLER is used to solve the discretization equations.