Error transport equation boundary conditions for the Euler and Navier–Stokes equations

Abstract

Discretization error is usually the largest and most difficult numerical error source to estimate for computational fluid dynamics, and boundary conditions often contribute a significant source of error. Boundary conditions are described with a governing equation to prescribe particular behavior at the boundary of a computational domain. Boundary condition implementations are considered sufficient when discretized with the same order of accuracy as the primary governing equations; however, careless implementations of boundary conditions can result in significantly larger numerical error. Investigations into different numerical implementations of Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions for Burgers' equation show a significant impact on the accuracy of Richardson extrapolation and error transport equation discretization error estimates. The development of boundary conditions for Burgers' equation shows significant improvements in discretization error estimates in general and a significant improvement in truncation error estimation. The latter of which is key to accurate residual-based discretization error estimation. This research investigates scheme consistent and scheme inconsistent implementations of inflow and outflow boundary conditions up to fourth order accurate and a formulation for a slip wall boundary condition for truncation error estimation are developed for the Navier–Stokes and Euler equations. The scheme consistent implementation resulted in much smoother truncation error near the boundaries and more accurate discretization error estimates.