The two-dimensional flow of a Newtonian fluid past a cylinder is investigat
ed. The governing equations are discretized using a second-order temporal d
iscretization based on the method of characteristics and a spectral element
spatial discretization. The resulting discrete systems are symmetric and (
semi-) positive definite and are solved using the conjugate gradient method
. The performance of the algorithm is examined. The dependence of the drag
on the cylinder as a function of the Reynolds number is investigated. (C) 2
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