You are on page 1of 22

Computer methods

in applied
mechanics and
engineering
Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

ELSEVIER

Godunov type method on non-structured meshes for


three-dimensional moving boundary problems
B. Nkonga, H. Guillard
INRIA, centre de Sophia-Antipolis, B.P. 93, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France
Received 30 March 1993

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical method for the computation of compressible flows in domains whose boundaries move in a well
defined predictable manner. The method uses the space-time formulation by Godunov while the discretization is conducted on
non-structured tetrahedral meshes, using Roe's approximate Riemann solver, an implicit time stepping and a MUSCL-type
interpolation. The computation of the geometrical parameters required to take into account the movement of the boundaries is
described. Examples including the calculation of the flow in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine illustrates the
possibilities of the method.

1. Introduction
This work deals with the computation of the flows of compressible fluids in moving geometries such
as those occurring for instance in reciprocating engines and more generally in many industrial devices.
As the geometry of such industrial devices is inherently complex, the versatility and flexibility of
non-structured meshes is very appealing. Accordingly, the present method is based on the use of
tetrahedral meshes. Because compressible flow often exhibits strong compressions or discontinuities,
the spatial approximation uses the robust second-order Euler solver developed in [1-3]. This solver is
also attractive because of its nice matrix properties when coupled with an implicit time stepping. This
paper explains how the movement of the boundaries is included into this framework in a very simple
and natural way. It is organized as follows: Section 2 discusses the approximation of conservation laws
on moving meshes. As stressed by many authors (see e.g. [4] for a review), the key point here is the
respect of the so-called geometrical conservation law, that is the form taken by the consistency relation
on a moving grid. The time-space formulation given by Godunov's method provides a very simple and
elegant way to automatically satisfy this constraint. Then in Section 3 we provide the computation of
the geometrical parameters when the intersection of two spatial control-volumes is a triangular face
whose three nodes move with different velocities. As any planar polygonal surface can be split into
triangular facets, the general case can be treated by repeated application of formula obtained on
triangular facets. In Section 4, we specialize these results to the finite volume method of [5] where the
boundaries of the control volumes are composed of a union of plane quadrangular faces. The fifth
section deals with modifications that are necessary to implement Roe's approximate Riemann solver on
a moving grid. Finally, in the last section we conclude by presenting several test cases and examples
illustrating the possibilities of the method.

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard I Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

184

2. Conservation laws in a moving domain

Let ~(t) C R m (m ~<3) be the domain filled by the fluid at time t. The displacement of the domain
from its position at time t = 0 to its position at time t is given by a map x = ~p(a) from ~(0) onto ~(t).
The space-time domain ~ occupied by the fluid between t = 0 and t = T is defined by
T

= U ~(t).
t=0

Except when the domain boundaries are fixed, the space-time domain ~ is not a simple product of a
spatial domain by a time interval. This introduces an additional difficulty with respect to fixed boundary
problems.
We will denote by J(t)= D x / D a the Jacobian matrix of the map ~o and by x(x, t) the velocity
displacement of the domain ~(t) at x E ~(t):
It(x, t) = - a~p
~ - (~o-1 (x, t)).
For all (x, t) E ~, we consider a first-order conservation law,
aW

O----i-+ V. F(W) = 0,

(1)

where W is a vector of R p and F a smooth function from R v into R p. Let qgi(t) (i = 1 , . . . , ns) be a
splitting of the domain ~(t) into non-intersecting cells such that

O~i(t)=~(t)

i=l

and

~i fq~j=ql

ifi#j;

we will denote by O~i(t ) the boundary of the cell ~i(t) and by (9~q(t) the intersection of the boundaries
of the cells ~;(t) and ~j(t) such that
tgc~i(l) =

U a~q(t),

jEff(i)

where ~(i) is the set of neighbors of i. We denote by ~ the space-time hyper volume defined by the
displacement of c~ under the action of the map ~p between times t = t" and t = t "+~ and by ~ j the
intersection of the two hyper volumes ~/and ~j. during the same time interval. Obviously the union of ~
fills ~ and we have
tn+l
"~iJ = t=t"U (9%(t)

and

O,~i --- c~i(tn) U C~i(tn+l) u (lE~J(i) ~i]) "

Figure 1 provides a graphical representation of the space-time and spatial cells ~; and ~ in the
two-dimensional case.
The discrete equations are obtained by integrating Eq. (1) over ~ resulting in

f,'o"+'f f f,,,,, -giW':Udt f,. f f,,,,,, V(W,',(O dS dt=O .

(2)

Using the identity,

WI . n(t) dS ,
Eq. (2) becomes
Vl(C~7+l'bW"+l-Vl(~7)W,
' + , - i

~
jEJ'(i)

I"+'fro
n

q~i(t)

(F(W) - W)" n(t) dS dt = O,

(3)

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard I Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

185

~I1 J- ]

n+ 1 )

:In+3

:t (n)

i
Fig. I. Hyper control-volume .~, and spatial cell ~ for the two-dimensional case.

n +

where WI '' and W i are defined as the mean value of W over the cell ~i(t
we define Wii and Fii as the mean value of W and F over ~/j, we obtain

V o l ( ~ 7 + ' ) w 7 +' - V o l ( ~ 7 ) w ; ' + ,at

5".

(F,j.,,),j

) and ~i(t"). Similarly, if

- o~,/ll.,jllw,.j) = 0,

(4)

jEff(i)

where the mean value ~/o of the integral of the normal n is defined by

1 /f/~, , n(t) dS dt = - ~1
~o = -~-

ff,/fo
,,

%(o n(t) dS dt

(5)

and where we have introduced the mean value of the normal velocity o-~j defined by

'

~ ' J - a/ll.,jll

ff , ;, K . n ( t ) d S d t -

-mll.,/ll
-

'

"
%,(,) K" n(t) dS dt .
f'""f/o

(6)

The correct evaluation of the above quantities is the key point in the design of a numerical scheme on a
moving grid. This can be understood as follows: let us consider that at time t = 0, the variable W is
equal to a constant state W0. If the domain boundaries 0 9 are fixed, the solution of any conservation
law of the form (1) will be W(x, t ) = W o Vt. Consequently the integration of (1) over any volume
C(t) C ~ and for any map ~p respecting the boundaries 0 9 will degenerate into the identity:

(t)

C(t)

According to Eqs. (5), (6), the discrete counterpart of this identity takes the form
Vol(~,'.'+')-Vol(Cg~')=A/ ~

icer(i)

(llrl,jllo-,j)

(8)

a n d s t a t e s t h a t the i n c r e a s e in the v o l u m e o f a cell m u s t e q u a l the s u m m a t i o n o f the v o l u m e s s w e p t o u t

by each face of the cell between t" and t "1. Therefore the respect of (8) is a necessary condition for a
numerical scheme to keep constant a uniform initial state and thus the evaluation of the geometrical

B. Nkonga. H. Guillard I Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

186

parameters (5) and (6) must be carefully done. This fact was first pointed out in [6]. Given an
approximation of 7/~; and o-~i, a method sometimes used to enforce (8) is to update the volume of the
cells by explicitly defining Vol(~7 1) by Eq. (8). However, in this case, the actual geometrical volume
of the cells may differ from the value given by (8) and it is preferable to devise a direct geometrical
method to respect (8). In the one- and two-dimensional cases, the correct evaluation of (5) and (6) is
described in [7]. Actually Godunov's original 1959 method [8] was designed for a moving as well as for
a fixed grid. We now give the computation of the geometrical parameters (5) and (6) for the case of a
triangular facet moving in a three dimensional space. As any plane polygonal surface can be split into a
finite number of triangles, a repeated application of these results will give the general solution (see
Section 4 for an example).

3. Geometrical parameters
Let T(t") be a triangular surface in lt~3 whose nodes are l(t"), J(t") and K(t'). Our aim is to compute
the parameters (5) and (6) under the action of the map ~0. It may happen that ~0 is explicitly known for
every (x,t) for instance by an analytical expression, however, when the motion of the domain is
complex, the map ~o is generally computed by a numerical procedure and is only known on a discrete
set of points. Therefore we make the assumption that the velocities of the three nodes I, J and K are
constant (but different) during a time step At and that the velocity of any point P belonging at time t"
over T(t") is a linear interpolation of the velocities of the nodes defining the facet. Let (a,/3) denote the
barycentric coordinate of P E T(t'):

X" = Xp(t" ) = (1 - a -/3)Xt(t" ) + aXj(t") +/3Xr(t" ) ;


then the velocity of P is
K(P) = (1 - ct - / 3 ) K t + aKj +/3K K
and thus K(P) is a constant and for any t@ [t', t"+l], we have
xp(t)

= x " + (t - t ' ) K ( P )

= (1 - ct -/3)Xt(t) + aXj(t) +/3XK(t).

(9)

From this equation, we deduce that P(t) belongs to the triangle l(t), J(t), K(t) for any t ~ [t', t "+1] (the
facet remains plane), that the barycentric coordinates (a,/3) of P remain constant during the time step
and that Xe(t ) varies linearly in time:

Xp(t) = ( 1 - s ) X " + s X "+1 , with s -

t - t"
At

With these relations, it is now an easy task to compute r/i;; we have first
t~(t) =

f fr ~,> n(t) dS = (Xj(t) - Xt(t)) ^ (Xr(t) - Xi(t))

and it is readily found that

nr=---~1 f [,' + ' f f r mn(t) dS dt=--~1 ,'"+' t ~ ( / ) d / = ( / ~ ' + ~ " + l + ~ * ) ,

(10)

where p , + l and p" are the integrals of the normal unit on T(t') and T(t'+~), respectively, and the
vector p* is defined by
n+l
1 (yn+l
n+l

2t~*=(x;-x'/)^(x"/'-x,

)+3,--,

-x,

)^(x~.-xT).

The computation of ~r proceeds in the same way. We first compute the volume 8V swept by the facet T
(Fig. 2):

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

187

I
Fig. 2. Volume 8V swept out by a triangular facet (1, J, K).

8V=

K "n(t) dS dt =
"

= Kc"

(t)

(fS'
n

n(t)"
"

n(t)

area{T(t)} dt

K dS

dt

(t)

= At KG r/r

where Kc is the velocity of the gravity center of the facet. We then obtain
(11)
~T-

AtlI'ITll -

"

"

This ends the computation of geometrical parameters for a triangular facet.

4. M U S C L - F E M method

In this section we apply the previous results to the M U S C L - F E M method by [1-3]. The threedimensional version of this method is developed in [5]. This method can be understood either as a
classical Galerkin finite element method stabilized by upwind terms [9] or as a finite volume method on
non-structured simple meshes. For ease of presentation, we adopt here the second point of view. Given
a non-structured tetrahedral mesh, to each node i of the mesh is associated a cell defined by the
midpoints of the edges of the tetrahedra having i as a node, the gravity center of these tetrahedra and
the gravity center of the faces of these tetrahedra. Fig. 3 displays the intersection of such a control
volume with a tetrahedra. Let us split the boundary of the /-cell by a union of partial boundaries
associated with each edge:

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard I Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

188

G
3

Fig. 3. Intersection of 0q~, with a neighboring element.

U a%.

jE~(1)

From Fig. 3, it is seen that

aCij is itself

a union on

T~j, the

set of tetrahedra having [i, ]] as an edge, of

quadrangular surfaces:

o%= U

rE Tii

Let i, j, k, l be the four nodes defining such a tetrahedra z, Ocgiin r is defined by the four points
{Ml; Gl; G; G3) (see Fig. 3) whose coordinates are
XM 1 .~. I ( X i .~_X j ) ,

X c I = 1 (X i q_ Xj -~ X I ) ,

Xo3=(X, + Xj + X,),

Xc=(X, + Xj + X, + Xk).

(12)

The followings relations are easily obtained from the definition of {M~; G~; G; G3}:

M~G, = ~ ( - X , - X j + 2 X t ) ,
MIG 3 = l ( - - X i - - X j "~ 2Xk) ,

GG, =~2(X,+Xj+Xt--3Xk),
G G 3 =-~2(Xi -~ Xj dr X k - 3Xt) .

and it is readily checked that these relations imply

G~M~ ^

G3M ~ =

2(G3G ^ G~G) ,

(13)

which states that a~ij n ~-(t) is a planar quadrangle. A quite remarkable consequence of our assumption
on the piecewise linearity of the velocity displacement of the mesh is that the relations (12) holds for all

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

189

t E [t", t "-+1]. Therefore, the planar quadrangular surface {M1; G~; G; Ga} remains plane during the
time interval [t", t'+~]. We note that this feature is not so common for moving grid algorithms. In
particular, the deformation of hexahedral meshes usually results, in the formation of non-planar
boundaries of the cells which introduces a certain arbitrariness in the definition of the volume of the
cells. To compute the geometrical parameters (5, 6), let us consider Tl(t ) = {Ml(t); Gl(t); Ga(t)} and
T2(t ) = {G~(t); G(t); G3(t)}, the two triangles that form the quadrangle 0 % Ml-(t) and let us use the
results of Section 3. We denote by ai~.(t) the area of O~i/N ~-(t), al(t ) and a2(t ) areas of T 1 and T 2,
respectively. Eq. (13) implies that
3al(t ) -- 6a2(t ) -- 2a~.(t)

V t E [t ~, t'+l].

(14)

We denote by /.t~(t) the value of the integral of the normal on 0 % M ~-(t). We have

~ = f f a%(,)n,(,) n(t)dS =a~(t)n'(t)


I~q(t)

ffr

"

1(o

= 3 ff

JJT 2(0

n(t) d S - -3 -~al(t)n " (t)


n(t) dS = 3a2(t)n'(t ) .

The application of the formula established for a triangular facet in Section 3 gives the contribution ~/i~ of
the element z to the mean normal associated to the segment [i, j]:

lf,,""ffo

"

~i/= ~ -

~l.t//,n + 1 = 3

(x~

%(t)n,(0

n(t)

lftt'*t
.

dS dt = - ~

I&q(l)
" dt = .t .P. q. +l + P,/,.* +/Zq~., },

(15)

with
I __ ..yn+IG ) ^ k " [ yG
n +G
l - -3X

2/.ti~.* -_ ~3/Vn+l
, . . ~ , _ X G + I ) ^ ( ~ -Xx" ~ )

.+1 ),

I~ij"."=_~r"
2 \ ' " GI - x ~ )n^

3 . . . - x. ~ .) ^ .
+ _vl.,~c~

" - x " G)
(XG3

(Xc +1
3 - Xcn + l ) ,

and finally we obtain the main value of the normal by summing the contribution of all tetrahedra having
[i, j] as an edge:

lf~i]= E

~.~ jrq

71~i1"

(16)

The contribution o-q of the tetrahedra ~- to the normal speed o-q associated with the edge [i, j] is
computed in the same way. For the two triangles T 1 and T2, the assumption made on the mesh
displacement implies that

f fr

1.2(0

K dS = aL2(t)lc(Gr, 2),

where K(Gr,), K(Gr2 ) are the (constant) speeds of the gravity center of T 1, T 2. Then

O'iJ

A/ll~qll

,~,(,)n.(,)

to.

n~(t)

dS dt

1 f'"+'
"
{a1(t)n~(t)'K(Gr') + a,(t)n'(t).K(a~)}

- Afll~qll

dt.

Combining this relation with Eq. (15), we obtain


,r

,.
1
o-. = 311.1.11 { 2 g ( G r ' )

.r

"
gi/" lqii
+ e c ( G r 2 ) } " ~ q - I1.1,;11 '

(17)

190

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

where the mean value velocity ~~ is given by


K~ --

2K(GT,) + K(GT 2)
1
3
-- 36 (13Ki + 13Kj + 5Kk + 5Kt)

and finally the mean value of the normal velocity is obtained by summing the contribution of all
tetrahedra having [i, j] as an edge:
1

K,~ rL~

(18)

"rE.~q

5. T h e Roe s c h e m e on a m o v i n g mesh

The previous scheme is now applied to the solution of three-dimensional Euler's equations. In this
case, the vector W and the flux F take the form

W=

LH(W)J
with

F ]
puw

/ puw /
Lu(E + p)J

pow /

|pw-+p

Lv(E + p)J

Lw(E + p)

The pressure p is related to the other variables by the perfect gases state law,
p = ( 3 ' - 1)(E-P(U 2 + v 2 + w2)),
where 3' is the specific heat ratio.
In accordance with Oodunov's method, the values W~j and F# used to approximate W and the flux F
on the hyper-surface ~ j will be obtained from the solution of a 1-D Riemann problem along the normal
~ij and between the two states Wj and W~:
OW

O,~

at + -~--n= 0 '
W(n t " ) ,

={W~.

frn<0'for
n>0,

(19)

where n is the co-ordinate along n = ~q0/ll~q~ill and , ~ = F . n


0 = u . n , the flux ,~ is given by
= [pO

puO + p n x

p v O + pn y

pwO + pn:

= n " F + n~'G + n"H. Using the notation

O ( E + p)] .

(20)

The solution ~" .... '(n, t) of the Riemann problem (19) is constant on any curve defined by n / t = cr. The
approximate values of W and F . n will then be chosen as the values of W and ,@ on the straight line
defined by the equation n / t = cr~j, where ~,j is the average 'slope' of the (hyper)-surface ~ j separating
cells -~i and ~j.
Of course the exact solution W.... '(o,) of the Riemann problem can be used to calculate the
hyperbolic flux. However, to reduce the computational cost, we use Roe's approximate Riemann solver
[10] which is based on a linearization of the fluxes. In l-D, the modification of Roe's scheme necessary

B. Nkonga. H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

191

to take into account the movement of the grid is detailed in [11]. The extension to the system (19), (20)
is straightforward and we obtain

% -- F , . ,1,j - '~,11"1,11W,,
_ _

II,l,l___JI{~(w,) + ~(w,) - ,~,j(wj + w,) + I,~ - ~rqlal (W~


.

- -

IV;)}

(21)

where A = A(I,~') is the Roe's matrix, T and ,~ the matrices of the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of * ,
I
o-ql.I = T I A - o-ql,t IT, respectively. The components of the vector W known as Roe s average
are defined by
~

7=

v~, + v ~

= w,v~, + wHg,

tT-

v~, + v ~

H : e +p

v~,. + V~

~ _ H,V~, + H, Vg,

v~, + v~fi~

The previous scheme is first order accurate. It can easily be extended to second order accuracy using the
MUSCL technique introduced by Van Leer [12] and extended to a non-structured mesh in [2]. In this
case, the two states W,+ and W[ defining the Riemann problem are given by

+
,,
ij
W, = W, + P , . - ] ,

W/

,,
ij
= Wj - P j . ~ ,

(22)

where P~ is an approximation of ~TW on the spatial cell ~(t") defined as an average on the set of
tetrahedra having i as a node of the constant values of VW given by P1 interpolation on each simplex.
To complete the description of the numerical method, we note that it is sometimes useful to dispose
of an implicit scheme for advancing the solution in time. Here we used an implicit linearized scheme
where the approximate linearization of the fluxes is written as

~q(W,, W , , + , ) = 4 { A ( W , , ) . W , , + Ii
+ ] A~( W i ,nW

+ A ( W ; ' ) . W j ,,+, - o'/;W~,,+, - crqW;,,+t


in) - o q l , , l ' ,

(Wn+l

-W;

,,+l

)}.

(23)

Let cSW= W " + t - W". The previous equation can then be re-cast in 3-scheme form as
~v(W", W ''+') = qsq(W", 8W) + q)q(W", W").

(24)

In this case, the explicit part of the flux q)q(W", W") will be calculated with a second order accurate
method while the implicit part will be evaluated by a first-order formula. Although this scheme is
formally first order accurate, in the sequel the resulting scheme will be denoted by 'implicit second
order accurate' to distinguish it from a pure first order implicit scheme. Indeed many experiments
reveal that this scheme is much more accurate than a first order one.
Let us end with some indications of the numerical boundary conditions. We suppose that the whole
boundary F of the spatial domain represents a solid wall. In the finite volume method used here, the
boundary P is composed of a union of plane quadrilateral like (i, M3, G 3, M, ) of Fig. 3. Let F/be equal
t o / " fl 3 ~ , where i is a node belonging to the boundary. The geometrical parameters nt; and o-1;. are
obtained by the method described in Section 3, taking into account the fact that the area of F, is 1 / 3 the
area of the triangle (i, j, k) (see Fig. 3). The slip condition on Fi then reads as follows:

v~.nr, = crt~.

(25)

This condition is imposed in a weak form by taking it into account in the computation of the flux
crossing the boundary F~. After appropriate linearization, the resulting boundary flux is given by
4,~,a = 4%(W") + AtIIn,:IIA,;~W , ,
where the explicit part ~bj; is given by

(26)

192

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard I Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204
~ t

W n

tl
)=Atlln ,ll[0 nX ,p,n n y p,n n Z ,p,n or p,],

(27)

and the implicit matrix Ar~(W") reads as


0

0
X

/1

0
X

/3

n r ~ _ u i /3nr~ _ v i /3nl ~ _wi,/3nr

/3nr

/3 ~

n yr~ -ui/3nr~
.
y

/3n~.

,, r
-or/3nr,

" Y
-wi/3nr~

(28)

11o711"-n z
/3--fIIvTll 2

or,:

-ui' /3orr, -v;'/3%

-wT /3or, /3or,

with/3 = (y - 1).

6. Numerical results

6.1. Solutions o f half-Riemann problems

Let us consider a rectangular tube containing a fluid at rest, closed at the right end by a piston. We
denote by W~ = (p~, ut, Pt) the initial state of the fluid. At time t = 0, we move the piston suddenly with
a constant velocity up. The position of the right extremity of the tube is then given by xp(t) = xp(O) +
tUp. The exact solution of this (half)-Riemann problem consists of two states Wt and WI connected by a
rarefaction wave if up > 0 and by a shock wave if Up < 0. For up > 0 (rarefaction wave) the state WI is
given by
Pl = Pt( 1

Y ~/Pt/

Uf = t/p

pl = pt(1 +

Y 3~Pt/

while if up < 0 (shock wave) and if we call o- the shock speed, the expression of Wr is given by
or

Pf = Pt or _ up
ui=u p

with o" =

(l+y)up(
4

_16yp, .'~
1 + pl(1 + r)2u2 ] "

Pf = Pt + orPtUp

Note that in the two cases, the piston plays the role of the contact discontinuity in the complete
Riemann problem.
We begin to investigate the capabilities of the method by considering the previous two problems. The
numerical code used here is a two-dimensional one an in order to simulate a 1-D experiment, the mesh
is 101 points in the x-direction by 3 points in the y-direction. A first order scheme with a CFL number
of 0.6 has been used. Initially, the pressure and density have constant values equal to unity while the
velocity is zero everywhere. At time t = 0, the piston (localized on the right in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5) is
suddenly moved with a velocity up = 1 resulting in the development of a rarefaction wave in the cylinder
or with a velocity up = - 1 resulting in the creation of a shock wave. Fig. 4 shows the velocity and
density obtained for the rarefaction wave case while Fig. 5 displays the results for the moving shock

193

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

PRESSURE

DENSITY

0.00
ci

1.50
Max= 0.99999
Min= 0.36739

0.00
d

1.50
Max= 1.(3000
Min = 0.27359

Fig. 4. Rarefaction wave: first order scheme solution (stars) compared to analytical result (solid line).

DENSITY

PRESSURE

...............................

./

00 Max= 2.3550
Min --

1.0000

0.75

0.75

00
Max =

2.9266

Sin =

1.0~0

Fig. 5. Shock wave: first order scheme solution (stars) compared to analytical result (solid line).

w a v e . F o r r e f e r e n c e , we h a v e p l o t t e d in Fig. 6 the s a m e q u a n t i t i e s in the case o f the classical S o d s h o c k


t u b e p r o b l e m w h e r e the c o n t a c t d i s c o n t i n u i t y plays the role of the piston. It can b e seen that the results
o b t a i n e d with the m o v i n g b o u n d a r y a l g o r i t h m is of the s a m e quality as t h o s e o b t a i n e d in t h e case o f a
fixed m e s h . N o oscillations are p r e s e n t in the shock and r a r e f a c t i o n w a v e s profiles. N e a r the m o v i n g
b o u n d a r y (right b o u n d a r y ) , a s m e a r i n g of the c o n t a c t d i s c o n t i n u i t y can be n o t i c e d in the results. A

B. Nkonga. H. Guillard I Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

194

DENSITY

PRESSURE

"t
I

,i
i

II

i000

,00
Max =
/din=

1.0000
0.10000

,00
Max =
Mill=

1.0000
0.12500

Fig. 6. First order numerical solution of the classical Sod shock tube problem.

small overshot due to the boundary conditions can be seen on the density profiles at this location, this
overshot is absent from the pressure and velocity (not displayed here) profiles, indicating that this
problem is related to the contact discontinuity that remains attached to the piston in its displacement.

6.2. Isentropic compression


In this example, the experimental conditions are the same as previously but the piston is moved in a
smooth manner in order to avoid the generation of shock waves and to keep the flow isentropic. The
law giving the piston position is representative of the motion of a piston in an internal combustion
engine and reads
xp(t)=-

I+13+~-

13-~ - ~a-- sin-(O


~ ),

+~cos(O)+

(29)

where O(t) (the Crank angle) equals 0 ( 0 ) + 2~-oJt, and the parameters 1, a, /3, 0(0) and w take the
values:

/ = 0.132 c m ,

a = 8.9cm,

/3 = 15.5 c m ,

0(0)= -iv,

w = 2000 t r / m i n

An analytical solution of this problem can be found using a low Mach number approximation. Let us
denote by At(t), .i:r(t) the velocity and the acceleration of the piston, then up to terms of order Ma the
solution of this problem is written as
_

p(x,t)=p,\~}

-x

For this low Mach number experiment, the numerical results are obtained using the implicit second
order scheme described in Section 4. A (21 5) triangular mesh is used and the time step is constant
corresponding in formula (29) to a variation 60 =-~/360. This corresponds to a CFL number in the

195

B. Nkonga. H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

REDUCEDPRESSURE

-"

~0.1~

- . .

Max = 0.194141:I-4N.
Min =

.~ VELOCITY

'~'*~47
"

0.23396E-07

5i

Max= -0.80659E-01
Nin = -4117.12

Fig. 7. lsentropic compression 0 = -~r/9. Second order implicit scheme solution (without gradient limitation) (stars) compared to
analytical result (solid line) The reduced pressure is defined by ll(x)= (p(x)- p,,,)/Pm,x.
interval [7, 100]. Fig. 7 displays the result at 0 = - ' r r / 9 . It is seen that the a g r e e m e n t with the analytical
solution is excellent: the velocity profile is linear and except for some oscillations near the boundaries,
the quadratic b e h a v i o u r of the dynamic pressure is well reproduced. These numerical results were
o b t a i n e d using a M U S C L approximation without the gradient limitation usually associated with a T V D
scheme for the capture of discontinuity waves. For this very s m o o t h solution, gradient limitation has not
b e e n f o u n d necessary Fig. 8 shows that the first o r d e r implicit scheme failed to c o m p u t e the quadratic
p e r t u r b a t i o n of the pressure. I n d e e d it seems that for this type of flow where the spatial variation of
pressure and density are very small, second o r d e r accuracy is necessary.
REDU(~DPRESSURE

!.-"

Max-- 0.21866E-03
/din-0.

---.S~.:.
~ 0~47

_0.00
~
Max= -10.456
/din = -396.95

0.47

Fig. 8. Isentropic compression 0 = -lr/9. First order implicit scheme solution (stars) compared to analytical result (solid line).
The reduced pressure is defined by ll(x)= (p(x)- P.,,.)/P,,,,,x.

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

196

6.3. 2-D model of a pitching N A C A 0012 airfoil


We now consider an airfoil experiencing a periodic pitching between - 1 and + 1 degrees. The angle
of attack at time t is defined by O(t) -- sin(~t/2). The initial conditions are the converged solution of the
steady problem with a null angle of attack. The numerical scheme is explicit and uses the M U S C L
technique with gradient limitation to obtain second order accuracy. A maximum CFL number of 0.5
and a mesh of 2280 vertices has been used. Fig. 9 displays the results obtained after a half cycle
calculation. We observe that the inertia of the movement induces several changes with respect to the
steady state solutions. In particular, even for a null angle of attack, the solution is not symmetric as can
be seen in Fig. 9(b) where the shock position on the extrados is shifted with respect to the shock
position on the intrados. Fig. 9(d) displays the concurrent evolution of the angle of attack and lift
defined by f(air foil) pny dl. It can be seen that the two curves are out of phase and that a negative lift can
correspond to a positive angle of attack when the latter is diminishing while on the contrary a positive
lift can be obtained for a negative angle of attack when the latter is increasing.

(b)

(a)

/]/N

Max=

1.35

M i n = 0.03

Max=

1.33

Min=

(c)

0.00

(d)

0.1

-0.1

TUN

Max=

1.35

Min

0 03

Fig. 9. Pitching N A C A 0012 airfoil (Ma~ = 0.85). Mach lines for an angle of attack O = 1 (a), O = 0 (b) and 0 -- - 1 " (c). In (d)
evolution of the angle of attack (solid line and scale on the right) and the lift (dashed line and scale on the left) are plotted.

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

197

6.4. Flow in a three-dimensional piston engine


We end this section with some results o b t a i n e d on a three-dimensional c o m p u t a t i o n of the flow inside
the cylinder of a piston engine. This type of application is characterized by a low or very low M a c h
n u m b e r , c o m p l e x geometries, intrinsically three-dimensional effects and strong d e f o r m a t i o n of the

Fig. 10. Computational domain at bottom dead center (t = 0 and 0 = -rr).

98

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Cornput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

Fig. 11. Computational domain at top dead center (0 = 0).

~' ~

~..,,._._

i~

.
" ~' 'P r

Fig. 12. Initial velocity field on the symmetry plane (# = - a t , bottom dead center) Vm,,~= 22.23 m / s .

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

199

meshes due to the movement of the piston. The geometry under study is an industrial combustion
chamber used in some Renault vehicles. Figs. 10 and 11 displays two views of the chamber at different
times during the cycle. Only one half of the chamber is displayed as it is symmetric. The radius of the
cylinder is 4 cm and at time t = 0 (bottom dead center; Fig. 10) its height is 8:45 cm while at top dead
center the height is reduced to 0.10 cm. The roof closing the cylinder head is 1.6 cm high. Figs. 10 and
11 also show the mesh used in the computation. It consists of a 4032 node, 20 166 element nonstructured tetrahedral mesh built by the 3-D Delaunay-Voronoi algorithm [13]. The motion of the
piston is given by the law defined by (29) where now the parameters l, a, /3, 0(0), to have the value
1 = 0.100 c m ,

a = 8.35 c m ,

/3 = 1 4 . 0 c m ,

0(0)= -~r,

to = 1200 t r / m i n

In order to simulate the motion of the flow at the end of the induction stroke, at time t = 0 a
recirculating motion of horizontal axis (called a tumble in the engineering literature) is artificially
created. The initial conditions are then described by the following relations:
Pt = 1.19 10 -3 g / c m 3 ,
tit(x) = - K ( r ) - -

vl = 0 c m / s ,

z -3.6

r = ~ / x z + (z - 3.6) 2 ,

Pt = 106 (cgs) ,
X

w,(x) = K(r) r

K(r) = C

sin(0.14~rr) sin(0.16"rrr)
(r + 10-3)8

The corresponding velocity field on the symmetry plane is plotted in Fig. 12. The computation uses the
second order linearized implicit scheme described in Section 4 without gradient limitation. The time
step is constant and equivalent to a variation of 80 = ~r/180. The computation presented here extends
from 0 = -~r (bottom dead center) to 0 = "rr. As can be seen in Fig. 13, at 0 = - a t / 3 , the piston motion
has compressed the initial vortex and the rotation axis has moved towards the right of the chamber. An
explanation may be that the piston moving upwards accelerates the left side of the initial recirculating
zone while it decelerates the right side. Fig. 14 displaying stream-surfaces (surfaces tangential to the
velocity field) shows that the compressed tumble is accompanied by a helicoidal motion from the side of
the cylinder towards the symmetry plane. At top dead center (0 = 0), we notice an important change in
the structure of the flow. The roof and the spherical part of the head chamber perturb the tumble
structure significantly and change its rotation axis which becomes gradually more and more inclined as

Fig. 13. Velocity field on the symmetry plane (O= - ~ / 3 , piston is moving upward). V.,,, = 19.61cm/s.

200

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

Fig. 14. Global flow structure: 0 = - ~ r / 3 and Vm,,~= 19.61 c m / s .

Fig. 15. Global flow structure at top dead center (0 = 0). Vm~x = 22.0 c m / s .

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

Fig. 16. Velocity field on the symmetry plane at top dead center (0 = 0). V,.,x = 22.0 c m / s .

Fig. 17. Velocity field on the symmetry plane (0 = ~r/6, piston is moving downward). Vm,x = 1 3 . 8 c m / s .

Fig. 18. Velocity field on the symmetry plane (0 = l r / 3 , piston is moving downward). Vma~ = 1 4 . 6 c m / s .

201

202

B. Nkonga. H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

Fig. 19. Velocityfield on the skin of the head chamber (0 = 7/18). V,,~x= 20.0 cm/s.

we move from the symmetry plane towards the spherical side of the chamber head (Fig. 15). During the
expansion phase after top dead center, the piston moves downward and thus now accelerates the right
part of the flow. This largely destroys the tumble motion and no recirculating region can now be seen in
the symmetry plane (Figs. 17 and 18). A closer examination of the velocity field reveals that the flow
now has an important horizontal component with a small recirculating motion of near vertical axis that
moves slowly to the right of the chamber (Figs. 19, 20 and 21). Finally, we note that the flow intensity,
measured by the maximum velocity norm, remains important during the computation: at 0 = ~r/3 the
maximum velocity is still of the order of 14 m / s (note that at this time, the piston velocity is 5 m / s ) .

Fig. 20. Velocityfield on the skin of the head chamber (0 = ~r/6). Vm,,~= 13.8cm/s.

B. Nkonga, H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

203

Fig. 21. Velocity field on the skin of the head chamber (0 = ~r/3). Vm,~= 14.6cm/s.

7. Concluding remarks
A numerical algorithm for the computation of three-dimensional flows on moving grids has been
developed and tested. Due to the s p a c e - t i m e formulation of G o d u n o v ' s method, this technique
incorporates the m o v e m e n t of the grid in a very simple way that automatically satisfies the geometrical
conservation law. One of the advantages of this technique is that it results from straightforward
modifications of existing Eulerian codes. This has been exemplified by the implementation of the
technique into a three-dimensional method designed to use non-structured tetrahedral meshes. Second
order and implicit versions of the method have also been built. Numerical examples have shown that
when combined with unstructured meshes, this technique can be efficiently used for a broad range of
applications from very subsonic flow to transonic flows. Work is presently underway to extend the
m e t h o d to true second-order (in time and space) accuracy and to add to it re-gridding capabilities to
deal with the appearance of large or small cells induced by the displacement of the boundaries.

Acknowledgment
This work has been supported in part by Renault S.A. We address special thanks to Olivier Bailly of
'Direction des Recherches' of Renault for his help in setting up the three-dimensional problem of
Section 5.

References
[1] A. Dervieux, Steady Euler simulations using unstructured meshes, in: Geymonat, ed., Partial Differential Equations of
Hyperbolic Type and Applications (World Scientific, Singapore, 1987) 33-11.
[2] L. Fezoui, R6solution des 6quations d'euler par un sch6ma de van leer en 616ments finis, Rapport INRIA, 358 (1988).
[3] L. Fezoui and B. Stoufflet, A class of implicit upwind schemes for Euler simulation with un-structured meshes, .I. Comput.
Phys. 84 (1989).
[4] M. Vinokur, An analysis of finite-difference and finite-volume formulation of conservation laws, J. Comput. Phys. 81 (1989)

1-52.
[5] H. Steve, Schemas Implicites Lin6aris~s D6centr6 Pour La R~solution des Equations d'Euler en Plusieurs Dimensions,
Th~se de l'Universit6 de Provence Aix-MarseiUe 1, 1988.

204

B. Nkonga. H. Guillard / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 113 (1994) 183-204

[6] P.D. Thomas and C.K. Lombard, ??? AIAA J. 17 (1979) 1030.
S.K. Godunov, R6solution Num6rique des Probl~mes Multidimensionnels de la Dynamique des Gaz (MIR, Moscow, 1979).
[8] S.K. Godunov, A difference scheme for numerical computation of discontinuous solutions of equations of fluids dynamics,
Math. Sb. 47 (1959) 271-290.
[9] A. Dervieux, L. Fezoui and F. Loriot, On high resolution extensions of lagrange-galerkin finite-element schemes, Rapport
de Recherche INRIA, 1703 (1992).
[10] P.L. Roe, Approximate Riemann solver, parameter vectors and difference schemes, J. Comput. Phys. 43 (1981) 357-372.
[ 11] A. Harten and J.M. Hyman, A self-adjusting grid for the computations of weak solutions of hyperbolic conservation laws, J.
Comput. Phys. 50 (1983) 235-269.
[12] B. Van Leer, Towards the ultimate conservative difference scheme: 2. Monotonicity and conservation combined in a
second-order scheme, J. Comput. Phys. 14 (1974) 361-370.
[13] P.L. George, F. Hecht and E. Saltel, Maillage automatique de domaines tridimensionnels quelconques, Rapport de
recherche INRIA, 1021 (1989).

17]

You might also like