COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION OF FLUID FLOW OVER A TRIANGULAR STEP USING IMMERSED BOUNDARY METHOD

Abstract

Handling of complex geometries with fluid–solid interaction has been one of the exigent issues in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) because most engineering problems have complex geometries with fluid–solid interaction for the purpose. Two different approaches have been developed for the same hitherto: (i) The unstructured grid method and (ii) the immersed boundary method (IBM). This paper details the IBM for the numerical investigation of two-dimensional laminar flow over a backward facing step and various geometrically configured triangular steps in hydro-dynamically developing regions (entrance region) as well in the hydro-dynamically developed regions through a channel at different Reynolds numbers. The present numerical method is rooted in a finite volume approach on a staggered grid in concert with a fractional step method. Geometrical obstructions are treated as an immersed boundary (IB), both momentum forcing and mass source terms are applied on the obstruction to satisfy the no-slip boundary condition and also to satisfy the continuity for the mesh containing the immersed boundary. Initially, numerically obtained velocity profiles and stream line plots for fluid flow over backward facing step is depicted to show its excellent agreement with the published results in various literatures. There after profiles and plots in the channel with triangular steps are also being unveiled with in depth elucidation. Results are presented for different Reynolds numbers.