USE OF STAGGERED AND NONSTAGGERED GRID ARRANGEMENTS FOR INCOMPRESSIBLE-FLOW CALCULATIONS ON NONORTHOGONAL GRIDS

A comparative study of two finite-volume calculation methods for incompressible flows on nonorthogonal grids with different grid arrangements is presented. One of the methods is based on the conventional staggered grid arrangement, and the other method is based on the nonstaggered grid arrangement of Rhie and Chow. The existing schemes have been slightly modified to employ the same dependent variables in the momentum equations and the same pressure and velocity coupling technique, in order to compare effectively the relative performances of the two schemes. Both schemes are applied to test problems, and the computed results are compared with the analytic solution and the experimental data available in the literature.