Hinge Method For CFD and Fluid-Ablation Interaction Modeling

A new method developed for immersed boundary problems is presented. With this method, the fluxes through the computational faces are controlled using a so-called “hinge” matrix. The method is simple to implement and is comparable in accuracy to other immersed boundary methods, such as the Cartesian grid method. However, by using the hinge matrix to control the fluxes, complex interpolations are avoided. The Hinge method is verified by solving a low-speed flow in an irregular domain. The verification indicates that spatial accuracy is maintained even when a coarse mesh is used. The method is then applied to multiple CFD problems including flow through obstacles and high-speed channel flow. To further demonstrate the potential, the developed method is then applied to study the conjugate heat transfer, solid sublimation in fluid, and hypersonic fluid-ablation interaction modeling. Numerous applications are presented to show the great potentials of this new method. Results also show that the proposed method provides a convenient way to model general CFD problems without extensive meshing.