CGNS Data Format Used for A 2D/3D Finite Volume Unstructured Grid Flow Solver

In this paper we discuss the application of CGNS data format as a means for pre- and post-processing of an in-house 3D finite volume unstructured grid flow solver which is under development. Hashing techniques are developed for speedy processing of interior faces and boundary faces needed by the finite volume flow solver. For a case with more than 300,000 unstructured hybrid cells, the preprocessing time (reading and calculating all the information needed by the solver) takes only about 5.0 cpu seconds (on a P4 3.4 GHz processor). The results from the solver can then be written into the same CGNS file for showing in most post-processing software such as Tecplot, Fluent. This development roadmap allows the avoidance of substantial work needed for pre- and postprocessing packages. It also allows bench-marking with other commercial software packages. As examples, a backward facing step flow and the flow in a muffler are computed with the in-house flow solver and the results are compared with a commercial package