A COMPUTATIONAL COMPARISON OF 2 INCOMPRESSIBLE NAVIER-STOKES SOLVERS IN 3-DIMENSIONAL LAMINAR FLOWS

A finite-analytic and a finite-difference based numerical method for s olving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are described and th eir spatial resolution and overall performance are scrutinized through careful analysis of the discrete equations and numerical experimentat ion. To facilitate a fair and unbiased comparison, both methods are ap plied on identical numerical grids to calculate three-dimensional lami nar flows through strongly curved square ducts. Detailed comparisons b etween the computed solutions and the experimental data reveal signifi cant discrepancies between the two numerical predictions. These discre pancies, which are attributed to the different strategies each numeric al method adopts for discretizing the governing flow equations, clearl y underscore the importance of developing reliable numerical methods w hich can accurately describe the physics of complex, three-dimensional flow fields.