Vortex-dominated conical-flow computations using unstructured adaptively-refined meshes

Abstract

A conical Euler/Navier-Stokes algorithm is presented for the computation of vortex-dominated flows. The flow solver involves a multistage Runge-Kutta time stepping scheme which uses a finite-volume spatial discretization on an unstructured grid made up of triangles. The algorithm also employs an adaptive mesh refinement procedure which enriches the mesh locally to more accurately resolve the vortical flow features. Results are presented for several highly-swept delta wing and circular cone cases at high angles of attack and at supersonic freestream flow conditions. Accurate solutions were obtained more efficiently when adaptive mesh refinement was used in contrast with refining the grid globally. The paper presents descriptions of the conical Euler/Navier-Stokes flow solver and adaptive mesh refinement procedures along with results which demonstrate the capability.