The direct simulation Monte Carlo method using unstructured adaptive mesh and its application

Abstract

AbstractThe implementation of an adaptive mesh‐embedding (h‐refinement) scheme using unstructured grid in two‐dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is reported. In this technique, local isotropic refinement is used to introduce new mesh where the local cell Knudsen number is less than some preset value. This simple scheme, however, has several severe consequences affecting the performance of the DSMC method. Thus, we have applied a technique to remove the hanging node, by introducing the an‐isotropic refinement in the interfacial cells between refined and non‐refined cells. Not only does this remedy increase a negligible amount of work, but it also removes all the difficulties presented in the originals scheme. We have tested the proposed scheme for argon gas in a high‐speed driven cavity flow. The results show an improved flow resolution as compared with that of un‐adaptive mesh. Finally, we have used triangular adaptive mesh to compute a near‐continuum gas flow, a hypersonic flow over a cylinder. The results show fairly good agreement with previous studies. In summary, the proposed simple mesh adaptation is very useful in computing rarefied gas flows, which involve both complicated geometry and highly non‐uniform density variations throughout the flow field. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.