An isoparametric spectral element method for solution of the Navier-Stokes equations in complex geometry (Q1067895)

An isoparametric spectral element technique is presented for solution of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations in arbitrary (curvy) geometries. The spatial discretization is described, and the method is illustrated by solution of Poisson's equation in a cylindrical annulus. A fractional-step Navier-Stokes solver based on a discretely consistent Poisson equation for the pressure is then presented, and exponential convergence in space is demonstrated for the case of (separated) flow between eccentric rotating cylinders. The technique is made efficient by the use of explicit collocation operators for the convective terms, and use of static condensation to solve the elliptic equations resulting from the Stokes problem. The algorithm is amenable to a high degree of parallelism, in both multi-processor and vector-pipeline environments.