FINITE VOLUME SOLUTION OF THERMOFLUIDS PROCESSES GOVERNED BY A

POISSON EQUATION

9.1 Introduction

This section is concerned with the development of a numerical prediction method for
thermofluids processes governed by a differential conservation equation of the general form:

where is the dependent variable,

and

and are associated coefficients and (x,r) are

the coordinates of a cylindrical polar system. (Note that the Cartesian form can be recovered
by setting r=1)

9.2 Path to be followed

1. Define computational grid
2. Define control volume (c.v.)
3. Perform volume integral of (1) over typical c.v.
4. Express integrals of 3 in terms of nodal values of , where necessary.
5. Perform special analysis for c.v.s adjoining boundaries.
6. Devise solution algorithm for discretised equations.

For the sake of concreteness and clarity the heat conduction equation will be analysed in
what follows: the results can easily be generalised.

9.3 Computational Grid, Control Volumes and Notation

Consider as an example the body of revolution shown shaded in Fig. 1, in which the
temperature distribution is to be found. The light solid lines are the computational grid,
formed from coordinate surfaces, arbitrarily spaced. The grid intersections or nodes are the
locations at which the temperatures will be calculated.

Each node is enclosed in its own control volume or cell, delineated by the dashed line, which
are defined as lying midway between the grid lines (other definitions are possible). It follows
that, in order that the outermost cell surfaces coincide with the physical boundaries, the latter
are bracketed by pairs of grid lines equidistantly space from the boundaries. The nodes on
the outermost grid lines are ficticious and redundant.