Characteristics Finite Element Methods in Computational Fluid Dynamics

The book details multi-dimensional upstream-bias algorithms for the numerical solution of the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Several sections derive the Fluid Dynamics equations from fundamental thermo-mechanics principles and systematically develops multi-dimensional upstream CFD algorithms with finite element procedures and implicit Runge-Kutta time integration algorithms. For mesh independence the formulation is developed at the differential equation level, before any spatial discretization. This formulation generates non-discrete characteristics-bias systems that incorporate an intrinsically multi-dimensional and infinite-directional genuinely upwind dissipation mechanism. A traditional centered discretization of the characteristics-bias system then automatically generates consistent and multi-dimensional arbitrary-mesh upstream discretizations of the Euler and Navier-Stokes Equations.