Meshless modeling of natural convection problems in non-rectangular cavity using the variational multiscale element free Galerkin method

Abstract

In this paper, the two-dimensional natural convection problems in complex geometries were solved by using the variational multiscale element free Galerkin (VMEFG) method. The VMEFG method is a meshless method which coupled element free Galerkin method and variational multiscale method, thus it inherits the advantages of variational multiscale and meshless methods. In this method, the field variables are decomposed into coarse and fine scales first, then solved fine scale problem analytically by using bubble functions, in the process, the stabilization parameters had appeared naturally. Moreover, it ensures that the resultant formulations yield a consistent stabilized method. From the viewpoint of application, the presented method can employ equal order basis for pressure and velocity, which is not only easy to implement but also avoid the restriction of the Babuŝka–Brezzi condition and eliminate non-physical oscillations. Several test problems, including natural convection in the semicircular cavity, triangular cavity and triangular cavity with zig-zag shaped bottom wall are considered to investigate the accuracy of the proposed method. The numerical results obtained using VMEFG showed very good agreement with those available in the literature.