Numerical Simulation of Separating Flows Using Computational Models Based on the Vorticity Confinement Method

The objective of the present research is to investigate the recent development of the vorticity confinement method. First, a new formulation of the vorticity confinement term is studied. Advantages of the new formulation over the original one include the ability to conserve the momentum, and the ability to preserve the centroid motion of some flow properties such as the vorticity magnitude. Next, new difference schemes, which are simpler and more efficient than the old schemes, are discussed. At last, two computational models based on the vorticity confinement method are investigated. One of the models is devised to simulate inviscid flows over bodies with surfaces not aligned with the grid. The other is a surface boundary layer model, which is intended for efficiently simulating viscous flows with separations from the body surfaces. To validate the computational models, numerical simulations of threedimensional flows over a 6:1 ellipsoid at incidence are performed. Comparisons have been made with exact solutions for inviscid simulations or experimental data for viscous simulations, and data obtained with conventional CFD methods. It is observed that both the inviscid and the viscous solutions with the new models exhibit good agreement with the exact solutions or the experiment data. The new models can have much higher efficiency than conventional CFD methods, and are able to obtain solutions with comparable accuracy.