Finite difference methods for 3D viscous incompressible flows in the vorticity-vector potential formulation on nonstaggered grids (Q1377892)

Two different types of the title methods are discussed. They differ in the implementation of the normal component of the vorticity boundary condition, and consequently in the enforcement of the divergence-free condition for vorticity. Both second-order and fourth-order accurate schemes are developed. A detailed accuracy test is performed, revealing the structure of the error and the effect of how the convective terms are discretized near the boundary. The influence of the divergence-free condition for vorticity on the overall accuracy is studied. Results on the cubic driven cavity flow at Reynolds number 500 and 3200 are shown and compared with that of the MAC scheme.