A Fast Hybrid Pressure-Correction Algorithm for Simulating Incompressible Flows by Projection Methods

Abstract: For simulating incompressible flows by projection methods. it is generally accepted that the pressure-correction stage is the most time-consuming part of the flow solver. The objective of the present work is to develop a fast hybrid pressure-correction algorithm for numerical simulation of incompressible flows around obstacles in the context of projection methods. The key idea is to adopt different numerical methods/discretizations in the sub-steps of projection methods. Here, a classical second-order time-marching projection method which consists of two sub-steps is chosen for the purpose of demonstration. In the first sub-step, the momentum equations are discretized on unstructured grids and solved by conventional numerical methods, here, a meshless method. In the second sub-step (pressure-correction), the proposed algorithm adopts a double discretization system and combines the weighted least squares approximation with the essence of immersed boundary methods. Such a design allows us to develop a FFT-based solver to speed up the solution of the pressure Poisson equation for flow cases with obstacles, while keeping the implementation of boundary conditions for the momentum equations as easy as conventional numerical methods do with unstructured grids. Numerical experiments of five test cases have been performed to verify and validate the proposed hybrid algorithm and evaluate its computational performance. The results show that the new FFT-based hybrid algorithm is working and robust, and it is significantly faster than the multigrid-based reference method. The hybrid algorithm opens an avenue for the development of next-generation high-performance parallel computational fluid dynamics solvers for incompressible flows.