Geometric conservation law and applications to high-order finite difference schemes with stationary grids

Abstract

The geometric conservation law (GCL) includes the volume conservation law (VCL) and the surface conservation law (SCL). Though the VCL is widely discussed for time-depending grids, in the cases of stationary grids the SCL also works as a very important role for high-order accurate numerical simulations. The SCL is usually not satisfied on discretized grid meshes because of discretization errors, and the violation of the SCL can lead to numerical instabilities especially when high-order schemes are applied. In order to fulfill the SCL in high-order finite difference schemes, a conservative metric method (CMM) is presented. This method is achieved by computing grid metric derivatives through a conservative form with the same scheme applied for fluxes. The CMM is proven to be a sufficient condition for the SCL, and can ensure the SCL for interior schemes as well as boundary and near boundary schemes. Though the first-level difference operators δ3 have no effects on the SCL, no extra errors can be introduced as δ3=δ2. The generally used high-order finite difference schemes are categorized as central schemes (CS) and upwind schemes (UPW) based on the difference operator δ1 which are used to solve the governing equations. The CMM can be applied to CS and is difficult to be satisfied by UPW. Thus, it is critical to select the difference operator δ1 to reduce the SCL-related errors. Numerical tests based on WCNS-E-5 show that the SCL plays a very important role in ensuring free-stream conservation, suppressing numerical oscillations, and enhancing the robustness of the high-order scheme in complex grids.