A coupled finite-volume/pseudospectral method

Spectral methods (SM) are accurate up to an arbitrary order provided the so lution is smooth and the computational domain is simple. On the other hand, when the problem geometry has a complex shape, finite-volume methods (FVM) have the advantage of being more flexible in fitting the domain boundaries by arbitrarily complex grids. The paper deals with the coupling of a spect ral method and a finite-volume method within a CFD code, enabling the combi nation of the advantages of both approaches. Considering some representativ e test cases the features of the coupled method are shown, where special em phasis is given to the coupling mechanism and to the accuracy and efficienc y of the method.