NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE FLOW BEHAVIOR IN THE UNIFORM VELOCITY ENTRY FLOW PROBLEM

Abstract

A numerical investigation is presented to study the behavior of laminar flow in the developing zone of a channel from very low to high Reynolds numbers. In this regard, the full Navier-Stokes equations are solved using a control-volume-based finite element method with dual definitions for the momentum components at integration points in order to suppress the decoupling problem. The investigation shows that there is a peculiar overshoot behavior in the region whose limiting solution requires substantial mesh refinement. This behavior begins in the vicinity of the wall that affects wall shear stress calculations and, consequently, pressure drop computations. The study shows that the domain solution approaches limiting values with appropriate mesh refinement. The solutions for low-Reynolds-number flows also approach limiting solutions as the Reynolds number is decreased.

Notes

Address correspondence to M. Darbandi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1.