7/1/2016 FLUENT6.3User'sGuide25.9.

1ChoosingthePressureVelocityCouplingMethod

25.9.1ChoosingthePressureVelocityCouplingMethod
FLUENTprovidesfoursegregatedtypesofalgorithms:SIMPLE,SIMPLEC,PISO,and(fortimedependant
flowsusingtheNonIterativeTimeAdvancementoption(NITA))FractionalStep(FSM).Theseschemes
arereferredtoasthepressurebasedsegregatedalgorithm.Steadystatecalculationswillgenerallyuse
SIMPLEorSIMPLEC,whilePISOisrecommendedfortransientcalculations.PISOmayalsobeusefulfor
steadystateandtransientcalculationsonhighlyskewedmeshes.InFLUENT,usingtheCoupledalgorithm
enablesfullpressurevelocitycoupling,henceitisreferredtoasthepressurebasedcoupledalgorithm.

Pressurevelocitycouplingisrelevantonlyforthepressurebasedsolveryouwillnotspecifyitfor
thedensitybasedsolver.

SIMPLEvs.SIMPLEC

InFLUENT,boththestandardSIMPLEalgorithmandtheSIMPLEC(SIMPLEConsistent)algorithmare
available.SIMPLEisthedefault,butmanyproblemswillbenefitfromusingSIMPLEC,particularlybecause
oftheincreasedunderrelaxationthatcanbeapplied,asdescribedbelow.

Forrelativelyuncomplicatedproblems(laminarflowswithnoadditionalmodelsactivated)inwhich
convergenceislimitedbythepressurevelocitycoupling,youcanoftenobtainaconvergedsolutionmore
quicklyusingSIMPLEC.WithSIMPLEC,thepressurecorrectionunderrelaxationfactorisgenerallysetto
1.0,whichaidsinconvergencespeedup.Insomeproblems,however,increasingthepressurecorrection
underrelaxationto1.0canleadtoinstabilityduetohighgridskewness.Forsuchcases,youwillneedtouse
oneormoreskewnesscorrectionschemes,useaslightlymoreconservativeunderrelaxationvalue(upto
0.7),orusetheSIMPLEalgorithm.Forcomplicatedflowsinvolvingturbulenceand/oradditionalphysical
models,SIMPLECwillimproveconvergenceonlyifitisbeinglimitedbythepressurevelocitycoupling.
Oftenitwillbeoneoftheadditionalmodelingparametersthatlimitsconvergenceinthiscase,SIMPLEand
SIMPLECwillgivesimilarconvergencerates.

PISO

ThePISOalgorithm(seeSection25.4.3)withneighborcorrectionishighlyrecommendedforalltransient
flowcalculations,especiallywhenyouwanttousealargetimestep.(ForproblemsthatusetheLES
turbulencemodel,whichusuallyrequiressmalltimesteps,usingPISOmayresultinincreasedcomputational
expense,soSIMPLEorSIMPLECshouldbeconsideredinstead.)PISOcanmaintainastablecalculation
withalargertimestepandanunderrelaxationfactorof1.0forbothmomentumandpressure.Forsteady
stateproblems,PISOwithneighborcorrectiondoesnotprovideanynoticeableadvantageoverSIMPLEor
SIMPLECwithoptimalunderrelaxationfactors.

PISOwithskewnesscorrectionisrecommendedforbothsteadystateandtransientcalculationsonmeshes
withahighdegreeofdistortion.

WhenyouusePISOneighborcorrection,underrelaxationfactorsof1.0ornear1.0arerecommendedforall
equations.IfyouusejustthePISOskewnesscorrectionforhighlydistortedmeshes(withoutneighbor
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7/1/2016 FLUENT6.3User'sGuide25.9.1ChoosingthePressureVelocityCouplingMethod

correction),settheunderrelaxationfactorsformomentumandpressuresothattheysumto1(e.g.,0.3for
pressureand0.7formomentum).IfyouusebothPISOmethods,followtheunderrelaxation
recommendationsforPISOneighborcorrection,above.

Formostproblems,itisnotnecessarytodisablethedefaultcouplingbetweenneighborandskewness
corrections.Forhighlydistortedmeshes,however,disablingthedefaultcouplingbetweenneighborand
skewnesscorrectionsisrecommended.

FractionalStepMethod

TheFractionalStepmethod(FSM),describedinSection25.4.3,isavailablewhenyouchoosetousethe
NITAscheme(i.e.,theNonIterativeTimeAdvancementoptionintheSolverpanel).WiththeNITA
scheme,theFSMisslightlylesscomputationallyexpensivecomparedtothePISOalgorithm.Whetheryou
selectFSMorPISOdependsontheapplication.Forsomeproblems(e.g.,simulationsthatuseVOF),FSM
couldbelessstablethanPISO.

Inmostcases,thedefaultvaluesforthesolutioncontrolsareenoughtosetarobustconvergenceofthe
internalpressurecorrectionsubiterationsduetoskewness.Onlyverycomplexproblems(e.g.,moving
deformingmeshes,slidinginterfaces,theVOFmodel)couldrequireareductionofrelaxationforpressureup
toavalueof0.7or0.8.

Coupled

SelectingCoupledfromthePressureVelocityCouplingdropdownlistindicatesthatyouareusingthe
pressurebasedcoupledalgorithm,describedinSection25.4.3.Thissolverofferssomeadvantagesoverthe
pressurebasedsegregatedalgorithm.Thepressurebasedcoupledalgorithmobtainsamorerobustand
efficientsinglephaseimplementationforsteadystateflows.ItisnotavailableforcasesusingtheEulerian
multiphase,NITA,andperiodicmassflowboundaryconditions.

UserInputs

YoucanspecifythepressurevelocitycouplingmethodintheSolutionControlspanel(Figure25.8.1).

Solve Controls Solution...

ChooseSIMPLE,SIMPLEC,PISO,FractionalStep,orCoupledinthePressureVelocityCoupling
dropdownlist.

IfyouchoosePISO,thepanelwillexpandtoshowtheadditionalparametersforpressurevelocitycoupling.
Bydefault,thenumberofiterationsforSkewnessCorrectionandNeighborCorrectionaresetto1.Ifyou
wanttouseonlySkewnessCorrection,thensetthenumberofiterationsforNeighborCorrectionto0.
Likewise,ifyouwanttouseonlyNeighborCorrection,thensetthenumberofiterationsforSkewness
Correctionto0.Formostproblems,youdonotneedtochangethedefaultiterationvalues.Bydefault,the
SkewnessNeighborCouplingoptionisenabledtoallowforamoreeconomicalbutalessrobustvariation
ofthePISOalgorithm.

IfyouchooseSIMPLECunderPressureVelocityCoupling,youmustalsosettheSkewnessCorrection,
whosedefaultvalueis0.

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7/1/2016 FLUENT6.3User'sGuide25.9.1ChoosingthePressureVelocityCouplingMethod

IfyouchooseCoupled,youwillhavetospecifytheCourantnumber,whichissetat200bydefault.You
willalsospecifytheExplicitRelaxationFactorsforMomentumandPressure,whicharesetat0.75by
default.Formoreinformationabouttheseoptions,refertoSections25.4.3and25.4.4.

Ifhighordermomentumdiscretizationisused,youmayneedtodecreasetheexplicitrelaxationto0.5.For
caseswithveryskewedmeshes,theruncanbestabilizedbyfurtherreductionoftheexplicitrelaxationfactor
to0.25.IfFLUENTimmediatelydivergesintheAMGsolver,thentheCFLnumberistoohighandshould
bereduced.ReducingtheCFLnumberbelow10isnotrecommendedsinceitwouldbebettertousethe
segregatedalgorithmforthepressurevelocitycoupling.

Inmosttransientcases,theCFLnumbershouldbesetto withanexplicitrelaxationof1.0.

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