Author(s)

P.D. Minev, F.N. van de Vosse, L.J.P. Timmermans, C.C.M. Rindt & A.A. van Steenhoven

Abstract

Numerical simulation of buoyant plumes using a spectral element technique P.D. Minev, F.N. van de Vosse, L.J.P. Timmermans, C.C.M. Rindt & A.A. van Steenhoven Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands 1 Introduction Highly convection-dominated thermally-driven problems appear frequently in the engineering practice. Their investigation often involves the necessity of direct simulation of transition to turbulence which requires high accuracy of spatial and time discretization. In the present study numerical simula- tion of unsteady plumes is presented performed with a spectral element algorithm. The spectral element method (SEM), proposed by Patera [1], is a high-order Galerkin type method which demonstrates excellent properties (small numerical diffusion and dispersion error) with respect to convection- dominated problems (see Timmermans & van de Vosse[2]). A major

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