Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Discussion on numerical diffusion: Poly vs. Trimmed

2023-11-02T20:09:34.000-0400
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Summary

This article discusses the numerical diffusion dependency on the flow direction relative to the mesh and the mesh type in Simcenter STAR-CCM+


Details

Numerical diffusion is an effect arising from the numerical discretization scheme. Its scale depends on the angle at which the flow hits the cell faces. Thereby, its magnitude is dependent on the mesh type.

Consider two inviscid streams aligned to each other. Ideally they should not interact with each other since there ought to be no diffusion of momentum (viscosity). But in finite volume numerics there unfortunately is.
A velocity magnitude scalar scene clearly shows diffusion of momentum:
Velocity Magnitude Scalar Scene Velocity Magnitude Scalar Scene
Since for this case, the exact solution is known, you can quantify the error.  

L2-Norm of the error vs. flow angle reads:
User-added image
Trimmed meshes show a vanishing numerical diffusion when the flow is aligned exactly with the grid.
If the flow is just slightly missaligned, the numerical diffusion in a trimmed mesh is identical to the numerical diffusion of a polyhedral mesh.

Numerical diffusion of the polyhedral mesher is always isotropic.

KB Article ID# KB000032705_EN_US

Contents

SummaryDetails

Associated Components

Design Manager Electronics Cooling In-Cylinder (STAR-ICE) Job Manager Simcenter STAR-CCM+