A NUMERICAL-METHOD FOR SOLVING THE 3-DIMENSIONAL PARABOLIZED NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS

A numerical technique that solves the parabolized form of the Navier-S tokes equations is presented. Such a method makes it possible to obtai n very detailed descriptions of the flowfield in a relatively modest C PU time. The approach is based on a space-marching technique, using a finite volume discretization and an upwind flux difference splitting s cheme for the evaluation of the inviscid fluxes. Second order accuracy is achieved following the guidelines of the ENO schemes. At first, re sults concerning two-dimensional test cases are shown to make possible a comparison with other experimental and numerical data. Then, the me thodology is used to investigate three-dimensional supersonic viscous flows over symmetric corners. Primary and secondary streamwise vortica l structures embedded in the boundary layer and originated by the inte raction with shock waves are detected and studied. For the purpose of validation, results are compared with experimental data extracted from the literature. The agreement is found to be satisfactory. In conclus ion, the numerical method proposed seems to be promising, as it permit s us, at reasonable computational expense, to investigate complex thre e-dimensional flowfields in great detail. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Lt d.