Stiffness characteristic and the applications of the method of lines on nonuniform grids

摘要

The method of lines is investigated for the numerical solution of the stream-function-and-vorticity form of the Navier-Stokes equations on nonuniform grids. Stiffness characteristics of a linear one-dimensional model equation are examined to establish the feasibility of applying the method to the vorticity equation in two dimensions. The governing equations are transformed from the physical domain with a highly variable grid to a computational domain with a uniform grid. The method of lines is used to solve only the vorticity equation, and the successive-over relaxation technique is used to solve the stream-function equation. It is observed that the transformed governing equations become stiffer with increased concentration of grid points and also as the number of grid points increases. It is also observed that the differencing technique affects the stiffness characteristics. The use of forward differencing is not feasible, and backward differencing is preferable to central differencing for high Reynolds numbers. The results of specific applications for the solution of flow in curved-wall diffusers and a driven cavity demonstrate that the method of lines under certain circumstances is feasible for the numerical solution of physical problems on domains covered with variable grids.