A second-order in time and space particle-based method to solve flow problems on arbitrary meshes

Published in Journal of Computational Physics Vol. 380, pp. 295-310, 2018
doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2018.11.034

Abstract

This work presents a novel proposal of a second-order accurate (in time and space) particle-based method for solving transport equations including incompressible flows problems within a mixed Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation. This methodology consists of a symmetrical operator splitting, the use of high-order operators to transfer data between the particles and the background mesh, and an improved version of the eXplicit Integration Following the Streamlines (X–IVS) method. In the case of incompressible flows, a large time-step iterative solver is employed where the momentum equation is split to improve the numerical approximation of the convective term.

New interpolation and projection operators are evaluated and quadratically accurate solutions of scalar transport tests are presented. Then, incompressible flow problems are solved where the rate of convergence of the method is assessed using both structured and unstructured background grids. The method is implemented in the open source platform OpenFOAM®allowing employing arbitrary meshes and obtaining reliable computing time comparisons with standardized solvers. The results obtained reveal that the current method is able to obtain a lower level of error than a fast Eulerian alternative, without increasing the total computing time.