Delaunay triangulation and computational fluid dynamics meshes

Abstract

In aerospace computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations, the Delaunay triangulation of suitable quadrilateral meshes can lead to unsuitable triangulated meshes. Here, we present case studies which illustrate the limitations of using structured grid generation methods which produce points in a curvilinear coordinate system for subsequent triangulations for CFD applications. We discuss conditions under which meshes of quadrilateral elements may not produce a Delaunay triangulation suitable for CFD calculations, particularly with regard to high aspect ratio, skewed quadrilateral elements.