An efficient spectral-projection method for the Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical geometries. I: Axisymmetric cases (Q1387876)

A numerical scheme is presented for the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations in primitive variables in a cylinder. The scheme is based on a spectral-Galerkin approximation for the space variables and a second-order projection scheme for the time variable. The spectral-projection scheme is implemented to simulate the unsteady incompressible axisymmetric flow with a singular boundary condition which is approximated by using a smooth boundary condition. A comparison is made with a standard second-order (in time and space) finite difference scheme based on a stream function-vorticity formulation and with available experimental data.