Implementation of boundary conditions and global mass conservation in pressure-based finite volume method on unstructured grids for fluid flow and heat transfer simulations

Abstract Proper boundary condition implementation can be critical for efficient, accurate numerical simulations when a pressure-based finite volume methodology is used to solve fluid flow and heat transfer problems, especially when an unstructured mesh is used for domain discretization. This paper systematically addresses the relationships between the flow boundary conditions for the discretized momentum equations and the corresponding conditions for the (Poisson type) pressure-linked equation in the context of a cell-centred finite volume formulation employing unstructured grids and a collocated variable arrangement. Special attention is paid to the treatment of the outflow boundary where flow conditions are either known to be fully developed (if a long enough channel is used) or unknown prior to solution (if a truncated channel is used). In the latter case, due to the singularity of the coefficient matrix of the pressure-linked equation, no pressure or pressure corrector solution can exist without explicitly enforcing global mass conservation (GMC) during each iteration. After evaluating published methods designed to ensure GMC, two new methods are proposed to correct for global mass imbalance. The validity of the overall methodology is demonstrated by solving the evolving flow between two parallel plates and the laminar flow over a backward-facing step on progressively truncated domains. In the latter case, our methodology is shown to handle situations where the outflow boundary passes through a recirculation zone.