BOUNDARY ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF VISCOUS CHANNEL FLOW

Abstract

The boundary element method (BEM) is used to investigate laminar viscous flows in internal channels. A direct iterative scheme is used to cope with the nonlinear character of the integral equations. To achieve convergence, an underrelaxation technique is employed at relatively high Reynolds numbers. Numerical examples of Poisseuille and backward-facing step flow problems are considered. It is found that BEM gives accurate solutions up to a certain Reynolds number for each case.