A PRESSURE-CORRECTION METHOD FOR SOLVING FLUID FLOW PROBLEMS ON A COLLOCATED GRID

A pressure-correction method for the SIMPLE-like algorithm is proposed on a curvilinear collocated grid for the solution of two-dimensional incompressible fluid flow problems, using a vertex-based finite-volume approximation. In the pressure-correction equation, a weighting factor (a fictitious time step) is used as a substitute for the nodal contributions of the momentum equations. It serves as a limiter for the mass imbalance and provides an opportunity to avoid the pressure underrelaxation even when the source term effect in the momentum equations is dominant. The primitive formulation utilizes either the original Rhie-Chow (ORC) or the modified Rhie-Chow (MRC) flux correction at the cell face in discretizing the continuity equation to prevent the pressure oscillations. A comparative evaluation of the ORC and MRC schemes based on the computed results for a buoyancy-driven laminar flow in a half-concentric annulus shows that, on average, the MRC approach produces satisfactory stabilization for the iteration process. The effect of the weighting factor on the convergence of the mass residual is also investigated. The QUICK differencing combined with a deferred correction approach is adopted for the connective fluxes.