Uncertainty Assessment for CFD Using Error Transport Equation

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is being§extensively used to study physics of complex flow§phenomena and to improve engineering designs.§However, the degree of acceptance of CFD results is§still largely dependent on confidence building via§comparison with experiments. The so-called numerical§uncertainty (or error) arising from a CFD simulation§can be due to a variety of error sources. The text§covers these numerical error related aspects with an§emphasis on the discretization error in regard with§its theoretical background and the commonly used§methods for identification and estimation. A novel§approach, named error transport equation (ETE) method§is formulated, aiming at developing a generalized§algorithm that can be used in conjunction with CFD§codes to quantify the discretization error in a§selected process variable such as velocity and§temperature. It is demonstrated via verification§against exact solutions that the ETE technique is a§viable tool for quantifying mesh size related errors§on a single grid computation. The intended readers of§this book are researchers and engineers who are§interested in the uncertainty topic and particularly§the error quantification methods.