Andrew Gavin Bradford Mowat, Wilhelm Johann van den Bergh, Arnaud George Malan and Daniel Wilke
An area of great interest in current computational fluid dynamics research is that of free-surface modelling (FSM). Semi-implicit pressure-based FSM flow solvers typically involve…
Abstract
Purpose
An area of great interest in current computational fluid dynamics research is that of free-surface modelling (FSM). Semi-implicit pressure-based FSM flow solvers typically involve the solution of a pressure correction equation. The latter being computationally intensive, the purpose of this paper is to involve the implementation and enhancement of an algebraic multigrid (AMG) method for its solution.
Design/methodology/approach
All AMG components were implemented via object-oriented C++ in a manner which ensures linear computational scalability and matrix-free storage. The developed technology was evaluated in two- and three-dimensions via application to a dam-break test case.
Findings
AMG performance was assessed via comparison of CPU cost to that of several other competitive sparse solvers. The standard AMG implementation proved inferior to other methods in three-dimensions, while the developed Freeze version achieved significant speed-ups and proved to be superior throughout.
Originality/value
A so-called Freeze method was developed to address the computational overhead resulting from the dynamically changing coefficient matrix. The latter involves periodic AMG setup steps in a manner that results in a robust and efficient black-box solver.