Chapter 13 - Complex Geometry

Summary

Computationally, there are two general ways to treat problems with complex geometry. One way is to use unstructured grids. The other is to use overset grids. Overset grids are formed by overlapping structured grids. In this chapter, the basic idea of overset grids methodology and its implementation are discussed.

Basic Concept of Overset Grids

To illustrate the basic idea of overset grids, consider the problem of computing the scattering of acoustic waves by a solid cylinder in two dimensions. In the space around the cylinder, the coordinates of choice for computing the solution is the cylindrical polar coordinates centered at the axis of the cylinder. This coordinate system provides a set of body-fitted coordinates and, hence, a body-fitted mesh when discretized around the cylinder. One significant advantage of using a body-fitted grid is the relative ease in enforcing the no-through-flow wall boundary condition using the ghost point method or other methods. Away from the cylinder, acoustic waves propagate with no preferred direction. The natural coordinate system to use is the Cartesian coordinates. Therefore, to take into account the advantages stated, one may use a polar mesh around the cylinder and a Cartesian mesh away from the cylinder with an overlapping mesh region. The overlapping mesh region is for data transfer from one set of grids to the other and vice versa.