A coupled pressure-based computational method for incompressible/compressible flows

Pressure-based flow solvers couple continuity and linearized truncated momentum equations to derive a Poisson type pressure correction equation and use the well known SIMPLE algorithm. Momentum equations and the pressure correction equation are typically solved sequentially. In many cases this method results in slow and often difficult convergence. The current paper proposes a novel computational algorithm, solving for pressure and velocity simultaneously within a pressure-correction coupled solution approach using finite volume method on structured and unstructured meshes. The method can be applied to both incompressible and subsonic compressible flows. For subsonic compressible flows, the energy equation is also coupled with flow field and the density of fluid is obtained by equation of state. The procedure eliminates the pressure correction step, the most expensive component of the SIMPLE-like algorithms. The proposed coupled continuity-momentum-energy equation method can be used to simulate steady state or transient flow problems. The method has been tested on several CFD benchmark cases with excellent results showing dramatically improved numerical convergence and significant reduction in computational time.