Engineering Commons^™

An H-Adaptive Finite-Element Technique For Constructing 3d Wind Fields, Darrell Pepper, Xiuling Wang

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

An h-adaptive, mass-consistent finite-element model (FEM) has been developed for constructing 3D wind fields over irregular terrain utilizing sparse meteorological tower data. The element size in the computational domain is dynamically controlled by an a posteriori error estimator based on the L2 norm. In the h-adaptive FEM algorithm, large element sizes are typically associated with smooth flow regions and small errors; small element sizes are attributed to fast-changing flow regions and large errors. The adaptive procedure employed in this model uses mesh refinement–unrefinement to satisfy error criteria. Results are presented for wind fields using sparse data obtained from two regions …

Application Of H-, P- And Hp-Adaptation For Convective Heat Transfer Problems, Xiuling Wang, Darrell W. Pepper

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and employment of an hp-adaptive finite element method (FEM) algorithm for solving heat transfer problems in partitioned enclosures, which has attracted the attention of both experimental and theoretical researchers in recent years.

Design/methodology/approach – In the hp-adaptive FEM algorithm presented here, both the element
size and the shape function order are dynamically controlled by an a posteriori error estimator based on the L2 norm; a three-step adaptation strategy is used with a projection algorithm for the flow solver.

Findings – Simulation results are obtained for 2D and 3D natural convection …