A comparison of grid-definition schemes for DSMC

This paper examines spatial-discretization approaches for the direct simulation Monte Carlo method for axisymmetric and three-dimensional flows. Computations using the three schemes, a uniform Cartesian grid, a structured body-fitted grid, and an unstructured tetrahedral grid, are presented for the hypersonic flow past a blunted cone for two angles of attack. The results indicate that the approaches return very similar flow field and surface results, and that these results show fair agreement with available experimental data. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the Cartesian scheme is significantly more efficient on a per-particle basis, but yields overall solution times significantly greater then those for the other two algorithms. (Author)