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Fluid Dynamics for M.Tech Students

The document discusses calculating velocity potential using the relaxation method. It explains that if fluid motion is irrotational, the velocity field can be represented by a scalar function called velocity potential. It then presents the Poisson equation relating velocity potential to divergence. The relaxation method is used to solve this equation by making an initial guess of velocity potential at grid points and iteratively updating the values to reduce the residual/error at each point below a threshold. The steps of the relaxation method are to compute the residual at each point, update the velocity potential by 1/4 of the residual, and repeat throughout the grid until reaching the desired accuracy.

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118 views3 pages

Fluid Dynamics for M.Tech Students

The document discusses calculating velocity potential using the relaxation method. It explains that if fluid motion is irrotational, the velocity field can be represented by a scalar function called velocity potential. It then presents the Poisson equation relating velocity potential to divergence. The relaxation method is used to solve this equation by making an initial guess of velocity potential at grid points and iteratively updating the values to reduce the residual/error at each point below a threshold. The steps of the relaxation method are to compute the residual at each point, update the velocity potential by 1/4 of the residual, and repeat throughout the grid until reaching the desired accuracy.

Uploaded by

mak112005gmail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Calculation of velocity potential using

relaxation method
Calculating velocity potential:

If a particular fluid motion is irrotational, then it is possible to represent the velocity field of
flow in terms of a s scalar function called asvelocity potential (normally denoted by χ ).

Thus, if fluid motion is irrotational then,

∇×V=0

∇×∇χ = 0

 V = ∇χ ---------(1)

Where, χ is called as velocity potential. If we consider horizontal components of velocity then


following equation becomes true

ui + vj = or u = and v =

It can also be written from the equation 1 that,

∇2 χ=∇∙V = + = D(x,y) -----(2)

Thus, if divergence is known at each grid point then by relaxation method the velocity
potential can be easily calculated.

Method of relaxation:

Relaxation methods are methods of solving differential equations by a technique of


successive approximation and then iterating until a solution is found. In this method an initial
guess is made and the error of the guess is reduced by an improved guess. The cycle is
repeated until the error at every grid point is reduced below some pre-assigned value.

It can be noticed seen that the equation (2) is Poisson’s equation.

Solving Poisson’s equation by relaxation method:

The Poisson’s equation can be written as


j+2
∇2 χ=D(x,y)
j +1
(i,j)
j
j -1
j -2 M A Kulkarni | M Tech 2nd Semester Practical Notes
i-2 i-1 i i+1 i+2
Figure1 Representation of grid
Let’s consider the grid as shown in Figure 1. With grid size δx and δy in x and y directions
respectively. The divergence D of V(x,y) should be computed at each grid point (i,j) and then
thepoisson’s equation will be solved using relaxation method to get the values of χ .

Let’s assume that the equal grid spacing in x and y direction i.e. δx and δy = d.

We can write using central difference schemeto compute the divergence as follows as follows

D(x,y) = + =

The Laplacian of χ can also be found out using central difference scheme.

And,

Similarly,

Now it can be seen from the above equation that to compute the Laplacian at a
particular point one has to go two steps forward and two steps backwards. But it would be
better if ∇2 χ is approximated by using the grid point data of the immediate neighbours. This
is achieved by imagining some subgrids with distance d/2

Thus equation 2 can be written as

Or

χ(i+1,j) + χ(i-1,j) + χ(i,j+1) + χ(i,j-1) - 4χ(i,j) = D(i,j)× d2

Steps followed in relaxation method:

1. Make and initial guess of ψat all the grid points. In general it is taken as zero.
2. Compute the residual Ri,j = χ (i+1,j) + χ (i-1,j)+ χ (i,j+1) + χ (i,j-1) - 4 χ (i,j) - D (i,j)× d2
The same equation can be written as

M A Kulkarni | M Tech 2nd Semester Practical Notes


3. Thus we can see that the initial guess χ (i,j) should be changed to χ (i,j) + ¼Ri,j
4. This process should be repeated at each grid point till we get the desired accuracy.

This procedure is little time consuming hence, another approach in which the corrected
values of χ(i,j) are used for estimation of χ(i±1,j) and χ(i,j±1). This process is called as
sequential relaxation. In practice the sequential relaxation converges faster than simultaneous
relaxation.

M A Kulkarni | M Tech 2nd Semester Practical Notes

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