Finite volume: basic methodology

• Divide the domain into control volumes.

• • • •
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • •
• • •

• Integrate the differential equation over the control volume and

apply the divergence theorem.
• To evaluate derivative terms, values at the control volume faces
are needed: have to make an assumption about how the value
varies.
• Result is a set of linear algebraic equations: one for each control
volume.
• Solve iteratively or simultaneously. 1
Cells and nodes
• Using finite volume method, the solution domain is subdivided
into a finite number of small control volumes (cells) by a grid.
• The grid defines the boundaries of the control volumes while the
computational node lies at the center of the control volume.
• The advantage of FVM is that the integral conservation is
satisfied exactly over the control volume.

Boundary node

Control volume

Computational node

2
Typical control volume
• The net flux through the control volume boundary is the sum of
integrals over the four control volume faces (six in 3D). The
control volumes do not overlap.
• The value of the integrand is not available at the control volume
faces and is determined by interpolation.

Dx
NW N NE

dyn
n
W P E
w e Dy
j,y,v
dys s
SW S SE
i,x,u

dxw dxe
3
Discretization example
• To illustrate how the conservation equations used in CFD can be
discretized we will look at an example involving the transport of a
chemical species in a flow field.
• The species transport equation (constant density, incompressible
flow) is given by:
c    c 
 (ui c)  D S
t xi xi  xi 

• Here c is the concentration of the chemical species and D is the

diffusion coefficient. S is a source term.
cN
• We will discretize this equation (convert
it to a solveable algebraic form) for the
cW cP cE
simple flow field shown on the right,
assuming steady state conditions.
cS
4
Discretization example - continued
• The balance over the control volume is given by:
Aeue ce  Awuwcw  An vn cn  As vs cs 
dc dc dc dc
DAe  DAw  DAn  DAs  Sp
dx e dx w dy n dy s
• This contains values at the faces, which need to be determined
from interpolation from the values at the cell centers.

Notation
cN
Aw , An , Ae , As : areas of the faces
An,cn cw , cn , ce , cs : concentrations at the faces
cW cP cE
cW , cN , cE , cS : concentrations at the cell centers
Aw,cw Ae,ce
uw , un , ue , us , vw , vn , ve , vs : velocities at the faces
As,cs
uW , u N , uE , uS , vW , vN , vE , vS : velocities at the cell centers
cS
j,y,v S P : source in cell P
D: diffusion coefficient
i,x,u
5
Discretization example - continued
• The simplest way to determine the values at the faces is by using
first order upwind differencing. Here, let’s assume that the value
at the face is equal to the value in the center of the cell upstream
of the face. Using that method results in:

AeuP cP  AwuW cW  An vP cP  As vS cS  DAe (cE  cP ) / d xe

DAw (cP  cW ) / d xw  DAn (cN  cP ) / d yn  DAs (cP  cS ) / d ys  S P

• This equation can then be rearranged to provide an expression

for the concentration at the center of cell P as a function of the
concentrations in the surrounding cells, the flow field, and the
grid.

6
Discretization example - continued
• Rearranging the previous equation results in:

cP ( An vP  AeuP  DAw / d xw  DAn / d y p  DAe / d xe  DAs / d ys )  cW ( AwuW  DAw / d xw ) 

cN (DAn / d yn ) 
cE (DAe / d xe ) 
cS ( As vS  DAs / d ys ) 
SP
• This equation can now be simplified to:

aP cP  aW cW  aN cN  aE cE  aS cS  b
 a
nb
c b
nb nb

• Here nb refers to the neighboring cells. The coefficients anb and b will be
different for every cell in the domain at every iteration. The species
concentration field can be calculated by recalculating cP from this
equation iteratively for all cells in the domain. 7
General approach
• In the previous example we saw how the species transport
equation could be discretized as a linear equation that can be
solved iteratively for all cells in the domain.
• This is the general approach to solving partial differential
equations used in CFD. It is done for all conserved variables
(momentum, species, energy, etc.).
• For the conservation equation for variable f, the following steps
are taken:
– Integration of conservation equation in each cell.
– Calculation of face values in terms of cell-centered values.
– Collection of like terms.
• The result is the following discretization equation (with nb
denoting cell neighbors of cell P):
aPfP   anbfnb  b
nb 8
General approach - relaxation
• At each iteration, at each cell, a new value for variable f in cell P
can then be calculated from that equation.
• It is common to apply relaxation as follows:

fPnew, used  fPold  U (fPnew, predicted  fPold )

• Here U is the relaxation factor:
– U < 1 is underrelaxation. This may slow down speed of convergence
but increases the stability of the calculation, i.e. it decreases the
possibility of divergence or oscillations in the solutions.
– U = 1 corresponds to no relaxation. One uses the predicted value of
the variable.
– U > 1 is overrelaxation. It can sometimes be used to accelerate
convergence but will decrease the stability of the calculation.

9
Underrelaxation recommendation
• Underrelaxation factors are there to suppress oscillations in the
flow solution that result from numerical errors.
• Underrelaxation factors that are too small will significantly slow
down convergence, sometimes to the extent that the user thinks
the solution is converged when it really is not.
• The recommendation is to always use underrelaxation factors
that are as high as possible, without resulting in oscillations or
divergence.
• Typically one should stay with the default factors in the solver.
• When the solution is converged but the pressure residual is still
relatively high, the factors for pressure and momentum can be
lowered to further refine the solution.

10
General approach - convergence
• The iterative process is repeated until the change in the variable
from one iteration to the next becomes so small that the solution
can be considered converged.
• At convergence:
– All discrete conservation equations (momentum, energy, etc.) are
obeyed in all cells to a specified tolerance.
– The solution no longer changes with additional iterations.
– Mass, momentum, energy and scalar balances are obtained.
• Residuals measure imbalance (or error) in conservation
equations.
• The absolute residual at point P is defined as:

RP  aPf P  nb anbf nb  b

11
Convergence - continued
• Residuals are usually scaled relative to the local value of the
property f in order to obtain a relative error:
a Pf P  nb anbf nb  b
RP , scaled 
a Pf P

• They can also be normalized, by dividing them by the maximum

residual that was found at any time during the iterative process.
• An overall measure of the residual in the domain is:
 aPf P  nb anbf nb  b
Rf  all cells
 a Pf P
all cells

• It is common to require the scaled residuals to be on the order of

1E-3 to 1E-4 or less for convergence.
12
Numerical schemes: finding face values
• Face values of f and f/x are found by making assumptions
about variation of f between cell centers.
• Number of different schemes can be devised:
– First-order upwind scheme.
– Central differencing scheme.
– Power-law scheme.
– Second-order upwind scheme.
– QUICK scheme.
• We will discuss these one by one.

13
First order upwind scheme
• This is the simplest numerical
scheme. It is the method that we interpolated
f(x) value
used earlier in the discretization
example. fP fe
• We assume that the value of f at
the face is the same as the cell fE
centered value in the cell e
P E
upstream of the face.
• The main advantages are that it
is easy to implement and that it
results in very stable
calculations, but it also very Flow direction
diffusive. Gradients in the flow
field tend to be smeared out, as
we will show later.
• This is often the best scheme to
start calculations with. 14
Central differencing scheme
• We determine the value of f at
the face by linear interpolation interpolated
f(x) value
between the cell centered
values. fP
• This is more accurate than the fe
first order upwind scheme, but it fE
leads to oscillations in the e
P E
solution or divergence if the local
Peclet number is larger than 2.
The Peclet number is the ratio
between convective and diffusive
transport: uL
Pe 
D
• It is common to then switch to
first order upwind in cells where
Pe>2. Such an approach is
called a hybrid scheme. 15
Power law scheme
• This is based on the analytical
solution of the one-dimensional
convection-diffusion equation.
f(x) interpolated
• The face value is determined value
fP
from an exponential profile
through the cell values. The
fe
exponential profile is fE
approximated by the following P e E
power law equation:
1  0.1Pe5 
fe  f P  fE  fP  x
Pe
L
• Pe is again the Peclet number.
• For Pe>10, diffusion is ignored
and first order upwind is used.

16
Second-order upwind scheme
• We determine the value of f from
the cell values in the two cells
upstream of the face.
• This is more accurate than the
first order upwind scheme, but in
regions with strong gradients it fW
can result in face values that are f(x) interpolated
value
outside of the range of cell fP
values. It is then necessary to
apply limiters to the predicted fe
face values. fE

• There are many different ways to W P e E

implement this, but second-order
upwind with limiters is one of the
more popular numerical
schemes because of its
combination of accuracy and Flow direction
stability. 17
QUICK scheme
• QUICK stands for Quadratic
Upwind Interpolation for
Convective Kinetics.
• A quadratic curve is fitted fW
through two upstream nodes and f(x) interpolated
one downstream node. value
fP
• This is a very accurate scheme,
but in regions with strong
fe fE
gradients, overshoots and
undershoots can occur. This can e
W P E
lead to stability problems in the
calculation.

Flow direction

18
Properties of numerical schemes
• All numerical schemes must have the following properties:
– Conservativeness: global conservation of the fluid property f must
be ensured.
– Boundedness: values predicted by the scheme should be within
realistic bounds. For linear problems without sources, those would
be the maximum and minimum boundary values. Fluid flow is non-
linear and values in the domain may be outside the range of
boundary values.
– Transportiveness: diffusion works in all directions but convection
only in the flow direction. The numerical scheme should recognize
the direction of the flow as it affects the strength of convection versus
diffusion.
• The central differencing scheme does not have the
transportiveness property. The other schemes that were
discussed have all three of these properties.
19
Pressure
• We saw how convection-diffusion equations can be solved. Such
equations are available for all variables, except for the pressure.
• Gradients in the pressure appear in the momentum equations,
thus the pressure field needs to be calculated in order to be able
to solve these equations.
• If the flow is compressible:
– The continuity equation can be used to compute density.
– Temperature follows from the enthalpy equation.
– Pressure can then be calculated from the equation of state p=p(,T).
• However, if the flow is incompressible the density is constant and
not linked to pressure.
• The solution of the Navier-Stokes equations is then complicated
by the lack of an independent equation for pressure.

20
Pressure - velocity coupling
• Pressure appears in all three momentum equations. The velocity field
also has to satisfy the continuity equation. So even though there is no
explicit equation for pressure, we do have four equations for four
variables, and the set of equations is closed.
• So-called pressure-velocity coupling algorithms are used to derive
equations for the pressure from the momentum equations and the
continuity equation.
• The most commonly used algorithm is the SIMPLE (Semi-Implicit
Method for Pressure-Linked Equations). An algebraic equation for the
pressure correction p’ is derived, in a form similar to the equations
derived for the convection-diffusion equations:

aP p'   anb p'  b'

nb
• Each iteration, the pressure field is updated by applying the pressure
correction. The source term b’ is the continuity imbalance. The other
coefficients depend on the mesh and the flow field.
21
Principle behind SIMPLE
• The principle behind SIMPLE is quite simple!
• It is based on the premise that fluid flows from regions with high
pressure to low pressure.
– Start with an initial pressure field.
– Look at a cell.
– If continuity is not satisfied because there is more mass flowing into
that cell than out of the cell, the pressure in that cell compared to the
neighboring cells must be too low.
– Thus the pressure in that cell must be increased relative to the
neighboring cells.
– The reverse is true for cells where more mass flows out than in.
– Repeat this process iteratively for all cells.
• The trick is in finding a good equation for the pressure correction
as a function of mass imbalance. These equations will not be
discussed here but can be readily found in the literature.
22
Improvements on SIMPLE
• SIMPLE is the default algorithm in most commercial finite volume
codes.
• Improved versions are:
– SIMPLER (SIMPLE Revised).
– SIMPLEC (SIMPLE Consistent).
– PISO (Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators).
• All these algorithms can speed up convergence because they
allow for the use of larger underrelaxation factors than SIMPLE.
• All of these will eventually converge to the same solution. The
differences are in speed and stability.
• Which algorithm is fastest depends on the flow and there is no
single algorithm that is always faster than the other ones.

23
Finite volume solution methods
• The finite volume solution method can either use a “segregated”
or a “coupled” solution procedure.
• With segregated methods an equation for a certain variable is
solved for all cells, then the equation for the next variable is
solved for all cells, etc.
• With coupled methods, for a given cell equations for all variables
are solved, and that process is then repeated for all cells.
• The segregated solution method is the default method in most
commercial finite volume codes. It is best suited for
incompressible flows or compressible flows at low Mach number.
• Compressible flows at high Mach number, especially when they
involve shock waves, are best solved with the coupled solver.

24
Segregated solution procedure

Update properties.

Solve momentum equations (u, v, w velocity).

Solve pressure-correction (continuity) equation. Update

pressure, face mass flow rate.

Solve energy, species, turbulence, and other scalar equations.

Converged?
No Yes Stop

25
Coupled solution procedure
• When the coupled solver is used for steady state calculations it
essentially employs a modified time dependent solution algorithm, using
a time step Dt = CFL/(u/L) with CFL being the user specified Courant-
Friedrich-Levy number, L being a measure of the size of the cell, and u
being a measure of the local velocities.

Update properties.

Solve continuity, momentum, energy, and species

equations simultaneously.

Solve turbulence and other scalar equations.

Converged?

No Yes Stop
26
Unsteady solution procedure
• Same procedure for segregated and coupled solvers.
• The user has to specify a time step that matches the time variation in the
flow.
• If a time accurate solution is required, the solution should be converged
at every time step. Otherwise, convergence at every time step may not
be necessary.

Execute segregated or coupled procedure, iterating to convergence

Update solution values with converged values at current time

Requested time steps completed?

Take a time step No Yes Stop

27
Finite volume method - summary
• The FVM uses the integral conservation equation applied to
control volumes which subdivide the solution domain, and to the
entire solution domain.
• The variable values at the faces of the control volume are
determined by interpolation. False diffusion can arise depending
on the choice of interpolation scheme.
• The grid must be refined to reduce “smearing” of the solution as
shown in the last example.
• Advantages of FVM: integral conservation is exactly satisfied and
the method is not limited to grid type (structured or unstructured,
Cartesian or body-fitted).
• Always ensure proper convergence.

28