Boundary layer mesh generation for viscous flow simulations

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, John Wiley, Vol 49, Num 1, pp.193-218, September 10-20 2000

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

Special Edition on Unstructured Mesh Generation
International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Vol 49 Number 1-2, 10-20 September 2000

Correspondence to: R. V. Garimella, Los Alamos National Laboratory, EES-5, MS C306, Los Alamos, NM 87545, U.S.A.
E-mail: raogarimella@alum.rpi.edu E-mail: shephard@scorec.rpi.edu

Abstract
Viscous flow problems exhibit boundary layers and free shear layers in which the solution gradients, normal and tangential to the flow, differ by orders of magnitude. The generalized advancing layers method is presented here as a method of generating meshes suitable for capturing such flows. The method includes several new technical advances allowing it to mesh complex geometric domains that cannot be handled by other techniques. It is currently being used for simulations in the automotive industry.