LU-SGS Implicit Scheme For A Mesh-Less Euler Solver

Abstract

Least Square Kinetic Upwind Method (LSKUM) belongs to the class of mesh-less method that solves compressible Euler equations of gas dynamics. LSKUM is kinetic theory based upwind scheme that operates on any cloud of points. Euler equations are derived from Boltzmann equation (of kinetic theory of gases) after taking suitable moments. The basic update scheme is formulated at Boltzmann level and mapped to Euler level by suitable moments. Mesh-less solvers need only cloud of points to solve the governing equations. For a complex configuration, with such a solver, one can generate a separate cloud of points around each component, which adequately resolves the geometric features, and then combine all the individual clouds to get one set of points on which the solver directly operates. An obvious advantage of this approach is that any incremental changes in geometry will require only regeneration of the small cloud of points where changes have occurred. Additionally blanking and de-blanking strategy along with overlay point cloud can be adapted in some applications like store separation to avoid regeneration of points. Naturally, the mesh-less solvers have advantage in tackling complex geometries and moving components over solvers that need grids. Conventionally, higher order accuracy for space derivative term is achieved by two step defect correction formula which is computationally expensive. The present solver uses low dissipation single step modified CIR (MCIR) scheme which is similar to first order LSKUM formulation and provides spatial accuracy closer to second order. The maximum time step taken to march solution in time is limited by stability criteria in case of explicit time integration procedure. Because of this, explicit scheme takes a large number of iterations to achieve convergence. The popular explicit time integration schemes like four stages Runge-Kutta (RK4) are slow in convergence due to this reason. The above problem can be overcome by using the implicit time integration procedure. The implicit schemes are unconditionally stable i.e. very large time steps can be used to accelerate the convergence. Also it offers superior robustness. The implicit Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss-Seidel (LU-SGS) scheme is very attractive due to its low numerical complexity, moderate memory requirement and unconditional stability for linear wave equation. Also this scheme is more efficient than explicit counterparts and can be implemented easily on parallel computers. It is based on the factorization of the implicit operator into three parts namely lower triangular matrix, upper triangular matrix and diagonal terms. The use of LU-SGS results in a matrix free implicit framework which is very economical as against other expensive procedures which necessarily involve matrix inversion. With implementation of the implicit LU-SGS scheme larger time steps can be used which in turn will reduce the computational time substantially. LU-SGS has been used widely for many Finite Volume Method based solvers. The split flux Jacobian formulation as proposed by Jameson is most widely used to make implicit procedure diagonally dominant. But this procedure when applied to mesh-less solvers leads to block diagonal matrix which again requires expensive inversion. In the present work LU-SGS procedure is adopted for mesh-less approach to retain diagonal dominancy and implemented in 2-D and 3-D solvers in matrix free framework. In order to assess the efficacy of the implicit procedure, both explicit and implicit 2-D solvers are tested on NACA 0012 airfoil for various flow conditions in subsonic and transonic regime. To study the performance of the solvers on different point distributions two types of the cloud of points, one unstructured distribution (4074 points) and another structured distribution (9600 points) have been used. The computed 2-D results are validated against NASA experimental data and AGARD test case. The density residual and lift coefficient convergence history is presented in detail. The maximum speed up obtained by use of implicit procedure as compared to explicit one is close to 6 and 14 for unstructured and structured point distributions respectively. The transonic flow over ONERA M6 wing is a classic test case for CFD validation because of simple geometry and complex flow. It has sweep angle of 30° and 15.6° at leading edge and trailing edge respectively. The taper ratio and aspect ratio of the wing are 0.562 and 3.8 respectively. At M∞=0.84 and α=3.06° lambda shock appear on the upper surface of the wing. 3¬D explicit and implicit solvers are tested on ONERA M6 wing. The computed pressure coefficients are compared with experiments at section of 20%, 44%, 65%, 80%, 90% and 95% of span length. The computed results are found to match very well with experiments. The speed up obtained from implicit procedure is over 7 for ONERA M6 wing. The determination of the aerodynamic characteristics of a wing with the control surface deflection is one of the most important and challenging task in aircraft design and development. Many military aircraft use some form of the delta wing. To demonstrate the effectiveness of 3-D solver in handling control surfaces and small gaps, implicit 3-D code is used to compute flow past clipped delta wing with aileron deflection of 6° at M∞ = 0.9 and α = 1° and 3°. The leading edge backward sweep is 50.4°. The aileron is hinged from 56.5% semi-span to 82.9% of semi-span and at 80% of the local chord from leading edge. The computed results are validated with NASA experiments