Development of an accurate central finite-difference scheme with a compact stencil for the simulation of unsteady incompressible flows on staggered orthogonal grids

In scale-resolving simulations such as Large Eddy Simulations (LES), the spatial discretization scheme of the convective term plays a crucial role in avoiding interference between the numerical errors and the subgrid-scale model. Accurate schemes lead to lower truncation errors and better predictions of turbulent flows without the need for an excessively refined grid. To this end, a new second-order finite-difference scheme (HCDS6) has been developed for incompressible flows and orthogonal staggered grids. Compared to the standard second-order scheme, the new scheme has significantly lower dispersion errors. Compared to existing high-order schemes, the numerical stencil of HCDS6 is more compact, which makes it easier to implement, especially considering boundary conditions around complex geometries using Immersed Boundary Methods (IBM). The HCDS6 scheme conserves the discrete momentum with limited production or dissipation of discrete kinetic energy, which guarantees its numerical stability. Its performance is evaluated using an open-source CFD package called REEF3D. Three benchmarks demonstrate the key properties and performance of the scheme: the convection of an isentropic vortex, the Taylor-Green vortex flow, and turbulent channel flow. Its relatively low dispersion errors, combined with ease of implementation, make the HCDS6 scheme a promising candidate for efficient scale-resolving simulations of turbulent flows.