Comprehensive Examination Syllabus

1- Partial differential equations Classification of PDEs, Elliptic, Parabolic and Hyperbolic

Equations, Initial and Boundary Conditions, Initial and Boundary value problems.
2- Introduction to finite difference, numerical errors and accuracy Central, forward and
backward difference expressions for a uniform grid, central difference expressions for a
Non-uniform grid, numerical errors, and accuracy of solution: optimum step size: grid
independence test.
3- Numerical methods for conduction heat transfer Applications of heat conduction steady
and unsteady conduction, dimensionality in conduction, some important examples of heat
generation in a body, one dimensional steady state problem, two dimensional steady
state problem, Three dimensional steady state problem, Transient one dimensional
problem, accuracy of Euler, Crank-Nicholson and pure implicit method, stability:
numerically induced oscillations, convection boundary condition, advantages and
disadvantages of each of the three methods: Euler, Crank-Nicholson and pure implicit
method, Transient two and three dimensional problem.
4- Numerical methods for incompressible fluid flow governing equations, difficulties in
solving Navier-Stokes equation, creeping flow, inviscid flow, determination of pressure
for viscous flow, SIMPLE (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations)
Procedure of Patankar and Spalding.
5- Finite Volume Method: Steady state diffusion (one dimensional and two dimensional
problems), steady state convection-diffusion problems One dimensional and two
dimensional problems. Use and importance of Upwinding difference method, Hybrid
method and Power Law method.