Tridimensional numerical simulation of reservoir filling using finite elemnt method

Author(s)

Fernanda Paula Barbosa

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC/SB)
• Defense date: 2007-11-23

Examining board members

Antonio Castelo Filho; João Luiz Filgueiras de Azevedo; Norberto Mangiavacchi

• Advisor: Antonio Castelo Filho

Abstract

The numerical simulation of fluid flow over many applications require the use of numerical techniques of high efficiency and demand high computational power. This work aims at initiating an investigation about fluid flows while filling reservoirs. The initial approach was to deal with fluid flows in a retangular duct, as increasing the complexity of its geometry in order to model more complex cases. This document describes the development of a numerical method for the simulation of incompressible fluid flow over a threedimentional domain, where the Navier-Stokes equations were written under an Eulerian formulation and discretized by the Finite Elements Method. The semi-Lagrangean method was used to discretize the convective terms and the components of velocity and pressure were decoupled through the use of a method based on LU decomposition, where the final pressure was determined by using a hidrostatic aproximation. The threedimentional domain was represented by a mesh, manipulated by a topologic data structure, formed with cells that define linear prismatic elements. Many experiments were performed under different geometries of the domain and also under different initial conditions. The result showed a good approximation of the described method, when compared with an analitical solution (AU)