An efficient, semi-implicit pressure-based scheme employing a high-resolution finite element method for simulating transient and steady, inviscid and viscous, compressible flows on unstructured grids

A new semi-implicit pressure-based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) scheme for simulating a wide range of transient and steady, inviscid and viscous compressible flow on unstructured finite elements is presented here. This new CFD scheme, termed the PCICE-FEM (Pressure-Corrected ICE-Finite Element Method) scheme, is composed of three computational phases, an explicit predictor, an elliptic pressure Poisson solution, and a semi-implicit pressure-correction of the flow variables. The PCICE-FEM scheme is capable of second-order temporal accuracy by incorporating a combination of a time-weighted form of the two-step Taylor-Galerkin Finite Element Method scheme as an explicit predictor for the balance of momentum equations and the finite element form of a time-weighted trapezoid rule method for the semi-implicit form of the governing hydrodynamic equations. Second-order spatial accuracy is accomplished by linear unstructured finite element discretization. The PCICE-FEM scheme employs Flux-Corrected Transport as a high-resolution filter for shock capturing. The scheme is capable of simulating flows from the nearly incompressible to the high supersonic flow regimes.; The PCICE-FEM scheme represents an advancement in mass-momentum coupled, pressure-based schemes. The governing hydrodynamic equations for this scheme are the conservative form of the balance of momentum equations (Navier-Stokes), mass conservation equation, and total energy equation. An operator splitting process is performed along explicit and implicit operators of the semi-implicit governing equations to render the PCICE-FEM scheme in the class of predictor-corrector schemes. The complete set of semi-implicit governing equations in the PCICE-FEM scheme are cast in this form, an explicit predictor phase and a semi-implicit pressure-correction phase with the elliptic pressure Poisson solution coupling the predictor-corrector phases. The result of this predictor-corrector formulation is that the pressure Poisson equation in the PCICE-FEM scheme is provided with sufficient internal energy information to avoid iteration. The ability of the PCICE-FEM scheme to accurately and efficiently simulate a wide variety of inviscid and viscous compressible flows is demonstrated here.