Recovery-based error estimator for the natural-convection problem based on penalized finite element method

Purpose This paper aims to proposes and analyzes a novel recovery-based posteriori error estimator for the stationary natural-convection problem based on penalized finite element method. Design/methodology/approach The optimal error estimates of the penalty FEM are established by using the lower-order finite element pair P1-P0-P1 which does not satisfy the discrete inf-sup condition. Besides, a new recovery type posteriori estimator in view of the gradient recovery and superconvergent theory to deal with the discontinuity of the gradient of numerical solution. Findings The stability, accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are confirmed by several numerical investigations. Originality/value The provided reliability and efficiency analysis is shown that the true error can be effectively bounded by the recovery-based error estimator.

Magnetohydrodynamic Natural Convection Heat Transfer of Hybrid Nanofluid in a Square Enclosure in the Presence of a Wavy Circular Conductive Cylinder

In this paper, steady natural convective heat transfer and flow characteristics of Al2O3-Cu/water hybrid nanofluid filled square enclosure in the presence of magnetic field has been investigated numerically. The enclosure is equipped with a wavy circular conductive cylinder. The natural convection in the cavity is induced by a temperature difference between the vertical left hot wall and the other right cold wall. The steady 2-D equations of laminar natural convection problem for Newtonian and incompressible mixture are discretized using the finite volume method. The effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of the hybrid nanofluid are calculated using Corcione correlations taking into consideration the Brownian motion of the nanoparticles. A numerical parametric investigation is carried out for different values of the nanoparticles volumic concentration, Hartmann number, Rayleigh number, and the ratio of fluid to solid thermal conductivities. According to the results, the corrugated conductive block plays an important role in controlling the convective flow characteristic and the heat transfer rate within the system.

Parallel two-step finite element algorithm based on fully overlapping domain decomposition for the time-dependent natural convection problem

Purpose This paper aims to propose two parallel two-step finite element algorithms based on fully overlapping domain decomposition for solving the 2D/3D time-dependent natural convection problem. Design/methodology/approach The first-order implicit Euler formula and second-order Crank–Nicolson formula are used to time discretization respectively. Each processor of the algorithms computes a stabilized solution in its own global composite mesh in parallel. These algorithms compute a nonlinear system for the velocity, pressure and temperature based on a lower-order element pair (P1b-P1-P1) and solve a linear approximation based on a higher-order element pair (P2-P1-P2) on the same mesh, which shows that the new algorithms have the same convergence rate as the two-step finite element methods. What is more, the stability analysis of the proposed algorithms is derived. Finally, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the efficacy and accuracy of the proposed algorithms. Findings Finally, numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the efficacy and accuracy of the proposed algorithms. Originality/value The novel parallel two-step algorithms for incompressible natural convection problem are proposed. The rigorous analysis of the stability is given for the proposed parallel two-step algorithms. Extensive 2D/3D numerical tests demonstrate that the parallel two-step algorithms can deal with the incompressible natural convection problem for high Rayleigh number well.

A novel characteristic variational multiscale FEM for incompressible natural convection problem with variable density

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a new method to solve the incompressible natural convection problem with variable density. The main novel ideas of this work are to overcome the stability issue due to the nonlinear inertial term and the hyperbolic term for conventional finite element methods and to deal with high Rayleigh number for the natural convection problem. Design/methodology/approach The paper introduces a novel characteristic variational multiscale (C-VMS) finite element method which combines advantages of both the characteristic and variational multiscale methods within a variational framework for solving the incompressible natural convection problem with variable density. The authors chose the conforming finite element pair (P2, P2, P1, P2) to approximate the density, velocity, pressure and temperature field. Findings The paper gives the stability analysis of the C-VMS method. Extensive two-dimensional/three-dimensional numerical tests demonstrated that the C-VMS method not only can deal with the incompressible natural convection problem with variable density but also with high Rayleigh number very well. Originality/value Extensive 2D/3D numerical tests demonstrated that the C-VMS method not only can deal with the incompressible natural convection problem with variable density but also with high Rayleigh number very well.