3D computation of unsteady flow past a sphere with a parallel finite element method Original Research Article

We present parallel computation of 3D, unsteady, incompressible flow past a sphere. The Navier-Stokes equations of incompressible flows are solved using a stabilized finite element formulation. Equal-order interpolation functions are used for velocity and pressure. The second-order accurate time-marching within the solution process is carried out in an implicit fashion. The coupled, nonlinear equations generated at each time step are solved using an element-vector-based iteration technique. The computed value of the primary frequency associated with vortex shedding is in close agreement with experimental measurements. The computation was performed on the Thinking Machines CM-5.