A primitive variable method for the solution of three-dimensional incompressible viscous flows

In this paper we present a new primitive variable method for the solution of the three-dimensional, incompressible, Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations in generalized curvilinear coordinates. The governing equations are discretized on a non-staggered grid and the discrete continuity equation is replaced by a discrete pressure-Poisson equation. The discrete pressure equation is designed in such a way that: (i) the compatibility condition for the Poisson-Neumann problem is automatically satisfied, and (ii) the discrete incompresibility constraint is satisfied to, at least, truncation error accuracy while the computed pressure is smooth. The momentum equations are integrated in time using the four-stage Runge-Kutta algorithm while the pressure equation is solved using the point-successive relaxation technique. The method is applied to calculate the turbulent flow field over a ship model. The computed results are in very good agreement with the experimental data.