A parallel 3D fully implicit unsteady multiblock CFD code implemented on a Beowulf cluster

Abstract

This chapter describes the development of an implicit parallel method for solving the three dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations. The discussion builds on developments in two dimensions. The features of the method are the iterative solution of an unfactored linear system for the flow variables, approximate Jacobian matrices, an effective preconditioning strategy for good parallel performance, and the use of a Beowulf cluster to illustrate possible performance on commodity machines. The method has been used on a wide range of applications, which include unsteady aerofoil flows and multi-element aerofoils, an unsteady Delta wing common exercise and the unsteady NLR F-5 CFD validation exercise. This chapter focuses on how a fast, low memory and communication bandwidth method is developed for solving unsteady problems. This method is used to demonstrate that a few commodity machines can be used to obtain unsteady solutions over geometrically complex configurations in a matter of hours.