Introduction

The development of the high-speed digital

computer during the twentieth century has had
a great impact on the way principles from the
sciences of fluid mechanics and heat transfer are
applied to problems of design in modern
engineering practices.
Problems that would have taken years to work
out with the computational methods and
computers available 30 years ago can now be
solved at very little cost in a few seconds of
computer time.
The increase in computing power per unit cost since
the 1950s is almost incomprehensible. It is now
possible to assign a homework problem in CFD, the
solution of which would have represented a major
breakthrough or could have formed the basis of a
Ph.D dissertation in the 1950s or 1960s.
Comparison of Experimental,
Theoretical, and Computational
Approaches
There are basically three approaches that
can be used to solve a problem in fluid
mechanics and heat transfer.
Experimental Approach
Theoretical Approach
Computational Approach
Example: M

=4, Re
D
=510
6
, P
WALL
=?
Experimental Approach
Design and constructed a model (wall
pressure measurement).
Wind tunnel facility (matching flow
conditions, energy costs).
Theoretical Approach
Assumptions: closed-form solution, Newtonian
flow, perfect gas, shock layer is infinitesimally
thin, bow shock lies adjacent to cylinder surface.
which assumes an isentropic compression
between the shock and body along the
stagnation streamline.
Computational Approach
Inviscid flow: Euler equations
Results
Comparison of Approaches
Historical Perspective
Richardson (1910): iterative (relaxation) schemes for
Lapaces equation.
Liebmann (1918): an improved version of
Richardsons method.
Courant, Friedrichs & Lewy (1928): uniqueness and
existence questions were addressed for the numerical
solutions of PDE.
Southwell (1940): a relaxation scheme used in solving
both structural and fluid dynamic problems.
Allen & Southwell (1955): applied Southwells scheme
to solve incompressible, viscous flow over a cylinder.
Von Neumann(1950): stability of numerical
methods for solving time marching problems.
Lax (1954): shock-capturing method.
Frankel (1950): successive overrelaxation (SOR)
scheme for elliptic type (Laplaces) equation.
Peaceman & Rachford (1955), Douglas &
Rachford (1956): alternating direction implicit
(ADI) scheme for parabolic and elliptic equations.
Von Neumann & Richtmyer (1950): artifical
viscosity scheme.
Gary (1962): shock-fitting method.
Godunov (1959): Riemann problem for flux
calculations.
Van Leer (1974, 1979) showed how higher-order
Godunov type schemes could be constructed.
Roe (1980): flux-difference splitting schemes
(approximate solution to Riemann problem).
Steger & Warming (1979): flux splitting schemes.
Boris & Book (1973): concept of limiters.
Harten (1983): total variation diminishing (TVD)
schemes. (generalized the limiting concept)
Enquist & Osher (1980, 1981), Osher (1984),
Osher & Chakravarthy (1983), Yee (1985), Yee
& Harten (1985): roubust methods for
computing convection-dominated flows with
shocks.
Riemann Problem
BACK
Limiting Procedure
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