ADAPTIVE FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD FOR TURBULENT-FLOW NEAR A PROPELLER

This paper presents an adaptive finite element method based on remeshi ng to solve incompressible turbulent free shear flow near a propeller. Solutions are obtained in primitive variables using a highly accurate finite element approximation on unstructured grids. Turbulence is mod eled by a mixing length formulation. Two general purpose error estimat ors, which take into account swirl and the variation of the eddy visco sity, are presented and applied to the turbulent wake of a propeller. Predictions compare well with experimental measurements. The proposed adaptive scheme is robust, reliable and cost effective.