14 - Numerics and Convergence

Simerics-MP is a multi-purpose, finite-volume and pressure-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. It solves the integral form of the governing equations for the mass and momentum conservation, and (when appropriate) for energy and other scalars such as turbulence and chemical species. This control-volume-based technique may be summarized in the following:

Dividing the physical space (domain) into discrete control volumes using a computational mesh.
Integrating/discretizing the governing equations over each control volume to construct algebraic equations for the dependent variables (velocities, temperature and the other primitive variables).
Extracting the pressure by solving the pressure-velocity correction equations, which are obtained by coupling the discretized continuity and momentum equations.
Linearizing the discretized governing equations and solving the resultant linear equation system iteratively to obtain the solutions of primitive variables.

The domain is divided into discrete control volumes and represented as a mesh. The finite volume methodology and pressure-based solver algorithm are explained in the theory section. Numerics provides information on how to use the solver, with descriptions of the solver parameters and settings. Convergence explains the convergence criteria used for the solution.