An immersed boundary method for complex flow and heat transfer

Abstract

The need to predict flow and heat transfer problems requires a flexible and fast tool able to simulate complex geometries without increasing the complexity of the flow solver architecture. Here we use a finite volume code that uses a direct solver with pressure correction. A new immersed boundary method (IBM) is used for a geometry consisting of a square body in a flow. The method is applied to flow cases with and without heat transfer. The obstacle simulated in the domain is implemented by local forcing of the flow with a procedure that adjusts locally the shear stress at the position of the object in conjunction with a non-penetration condition on the body walls. This approach has already been successfully applied by Breugem and Boersma (Phys. Fluids 17:15, 2005). We extend it for the case of heat transfer between body and flow. Comparison with other methods has been carried out as well. However, the proposed method can not be simply extended to immersed boundaries not aligned with the grid. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.