Computational Mechanics 30 (2003) 303–309 Ó Springer-Verlag 2003

DOI 10.1007/s00466-002-0406-z

Interpolation functions in control volume finite element method

H. Abbassi, S. Turki, S. Ben Nasrallah

303
Abstract The main contribution of this paper is the Uav magnitude of vector uav
study of interpolation functions in control volume finite ui velocity components (u1 ¼ u, u2 ¼ v)
element method used in equal order and applied to an u~, v~ pseudo-velocity components
incompressible two-dimensional fluid flow. Especially, Vp control volume
the exponential interpolation function expressed in the x; y global Cartesian coordinates
elemental local coordinate system is compared to the X; Y local Cartesian coordinates
classic linear interpolation function expressed in the global
coordinate system. A quantitative comparison is achieved
by the application of these two schemes to four flows that Greek symbols
we know the analytical solutions. These flows are classified l dynamic viscosity of the fluid
in two groups: flows with privileged direction and flows q density of the fluid
without. The two interpolation functions are applied to a s dimensionless time
triangular element of the domain then; a direct comparison Ds dimensionless time step
of the results given by each interpolation function to the
exact value is easily realized. The two functions are also Subscripts
compared when used to solve the discretized equations av average
over the entire domain. Stability of the numerical process i ith Cartesian direction
and accuracy of solutions are compared. nb neighboring nodes to central node
P pertaining to node P
Keywords Control volume finite element method,
Incompressible fluid flow, Interpolation function,
Flow-oriented interpolation, Laminar flow Abbreviations
CVFEM Control volume finite element method
List of symbols FLO flow-oriented interpolation
Ji combined convection diffusion flux FLOS flow-oriented interpolation with source effects
corresponding to the component ui LI linear interpolation
L elemental side LU Lower–Upper
n outward-pointing normal
P node 1
p pressure Introduction
PeD elemental Peclet number The evaluation of convection–diffusion flux of the
Re Reynolds number Navier–Stokes equations through the surface bounding
si body force the control volume needs an interpolation function that
S surface bounding the control volume describe the variation of velocity components over the
t time triangular element. If this interpolation function is not
u velocity vector precise, obtained solutions will never be realistic even if
uav average velocity vector over an element we use the most powerful numerical process. The im-
portance of interpolation functions is in the origin of the
Received: 20 October 2002 / Accepted: 2 December 2002 motivation of this work. It should be noted that inter-
polation functions considered in this study concern only
H. Abbassi (&), S. Turki velocity components used in the two momentum equa-
Faculté des sciences, tions and not other transported scalar such as tempera-
Département de Physique, ture and concentration. As in all literature, pressure is
B. P. 802, 3018 Sfax, Tunisia always evaluated over an element by a linear interpola-
e-mail: hassen.abbassi@fss.rnu.tn tion, then, an interpolation function for pressure is out of
S. Ben Nasrallah study in this paper. The numerical procedure concerned
Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs, in this study is the control volume finite element method
Département d’énergétique, (CVFEM) used in equal order; i.e. pressure and velocity
Route de Kairouan, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia components are stored at the same point. CVFEM
 combine advantages of finite element and finite volume
methods. Its formulation is based on easy physical in-
terpretation and their solutions satisfy both global and
local conservation. In addition, CVFEM uses a control
volume that not obligatory regular and then can delimit a
complicate domain. The flexibility of the grid is the
famous advantage of this method. Baliga and Patankar
(1980, 1983) were the first founders of CVFEM. Besides
the introduction of the basic concept of using the control
volume, the major contribution of their work lies in the
development of an appropriate shape function for sim-
304
ulating a convection diffusion process. Over each ele-
ment, the proposed shape function is exponential in the
direction of the average velocity vector and linear in the
normal direction. This function called flow-oriented in-
terpolation (FLO) simulates correctly the one-sided (up-
wind) nature of convection and the two-sided nature of
diffusion. Baliga and Patankar (1980) mentioned that,
since FLO is developed along the direction of the local
flow, it reduces crosswind diffusion considerably. Since
that time, many transformations have been carried to
FLO. Prakash (1986) propose an other shape function
similar to FLO but depending on the source terms of the
momentum equations. This function is called flow-ori-
ented interpolation with sources effects (FLOS). He used
FLOS also in the integration of the continuity equation
for formulating the pressure equation. Under certain
conditions FLOS is an exact solution of the equation of
two-dimensional convection–diffusion problem written in
the local coordinate system. FLOS proposed by Prakash
(1986) is not the unique solution of the above mentioned
equation. In this context Hookey (1989) propose an other
variant of FLOS witch differently depends on the source
term than that proposed by Prakash (1986). Saabas and
Baliga (1994) carried out a detailed investigation about
interpolation functions used in CVFEM and applied to
two and three dimensional incompressible fluid flow.
Their study concern FLO, FLOS and MAW (mass-
weighted upwind scheme). They conclude that the FLOS
scheme is not recommended, it is even more prone to
difficulties than the FLO scheme. Even in source domi-
nated problems for which both the FLO and FLOS
scheme produce converged solutions, the results of the
FLOS scheme are not necessarily more accurate than
those produced by the FLO scheme. Furthermore, to the
study of Saabas and Baliga (1994), FLOS and FLO are
completely abandoned in the treatment of the continuity
equation and in the diffusive term of momentum equa-
tions and were replaced by a simple linear interpolation
(LI) expressed in the global coordinate system. FLO is
retained only in the treatment of the convective term of
the momentum equations.
The principal aim of this paper is the evaluation of FLO
as it was developed by Saabas and Baliga (1994) by com-
paring it to the classic LI. LI and FLO schemes are the most
used in CVFEM. We will try to answer a question that we
judge very important: Does FLO used in the convective
term present any advantage compared to LI? In order to
have a precise comparison, we have chosen to apply FLO
and LI to flows that we know the exact solutions. Four
flows are selected and classified into two groups: (1) Flows
without privileged direction: Green–Taylor vortex and
flow between concentric rotating cylinders and (2) Flows
with privileged direction: laminar flow in a plane channel
and laminar uniform flow.
2
Governing equations – numerical procedure
With reference to Newtonian fluid and the Cartesian
coordinate system, the mass conservation and the two-
dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible
fluid flow are given as follows:
r
ðquÞ ¼ 0 ð1Þ
oui op
þ r
ðJi Þ ¼ si  ð2Þ
ot oxi
where
Ji ¼ quui  lrui ð3Þ
In these equations, l is the dynamic viscosity, q is the
mass density and p is the pressure. si is the body force
term acting in the ith Cartesian coordinate direction and Ji
is the combined convection–diffusion vector associated to
the component ui of the velocity vector u. Since we are
limited to a two dimensional problem i can take only two
values: For i ¼ 1: u1 ¼ u, x1 ¼ x and for i ¼ 2: u2 ¼ v,
x2 ¼ y.
We present now a brief description of the discretization
procedure in CVFEM used in equal order. Details de-
scriptions of this method for fluid flow are available in all
references cited above, in the two publications of Abbassi
et al. (2001) and in many other references. A control vol-
ume is constructed around every node P by joining the
centroids of the relevant triangles to the midpoints of the
sides as indicated in Fig. 1a. The unsteady equations (2)
are integrated over the control volume to obtain equations
of nodal values for velocity components. A special proce-
dure is used to integrate the mass conservation equation
(1) leading to the discretized pressure equation. Using the
Green–Ostrograski theorem, integration of the divergence
term in momentum equation (2) over the control volume
surrounding node P gives:
Z Z
r
ðJi Þdv ¼ Ji
n ds ð4Þ
Vp S
where S is the surface area of the control volume Vp sur-
rounding node P and n is a unit outward normal to the
differential surface area ds. Now we consider the element
PAB shown in Fig. 1b associated to a local flow-oriented
Cartesian coordinate system (X; Y), the origin is located at
the element centroid g and the X-axis is aligned with the
elemental-averaged velocity vector as indicated in Fig. 1b.
This local coordinate system is used by the FLO scheme.
The second member of Eq. (4) is evaluated by calculating
the flux of Ji throughout the surface bounding the control
volume situated in every element neighboring node P.
Integration of other terms in Eq. (2) over the control
volume can be realized easily. Collecting and simplifying,
the discretized equations for u and v components can be
written as:
 As in Saabas and Baliga (1994) we assume a linear
variation of u and v components in the treatment of
pressure equation. Using Eqs. (7) and (8), the integration
of the mass conservation equation (1) through the control
volume surrounding node P yields to the discretized
equation of pressure written in the classic form:
X
Cp Pp ¼ Cnb Pnb þ Dp ð9Þ
nb

where Dp is the source term arising from pseudo-velocity

fields. 305
The SIMPLER algorithm of Patankar (1980) was applied
to treat the pressure-velocity coupling. Equations (5), (6)
and (9) are written in a matrix shape and solved ittera-
tively at every instant by an LU decomposition.

3
Interpolation functions
The interpolation functions that will be discussed here
are for the velocity components, ui , when they are treated
as transported scalars in the appropriate momentum
equations. The vector Ji in Eq. (2) contain a convective
term (q u ui ) and a diffusive term (lrui ). In this in-
vestigation, interpolation functions concern only the ui
component in the convective term. The work of Saabas
and Baliga (1994) show that the adequate interpolation
function for ui in the diffusive term and in the treatment
of the continuity equation is the LI scheme. The simplest
interpolation function, that first come to the mind, is the
Fig. 1. a Control volume around node P. b triangular element LI which is usually expressed in the global coordinate
PAB with local coordinate system system by:
X
 ui ¼ ax þ by þ c ð10Þ
op
AP up ¼ Anb unb þ Vp  þ Vp ðs1 þ uop =DsÞ
ox Writing the Eq. (10) at the three nodes of a triangular
nb
element, where ui is given, we can easily deduce values of
ð5Þ the coefficients a, b and c. Consider now the triangular
X

op element PAB shown in Fig. 1b, the relation between the
Ap vp ¼ Anb vnb þ Vp  þ Vp ðs2 þ vop =DsÞ local and the global coordinate system is given by:
nb
oy
1
ð6Þ X¼ ½ðx  xg Þug þ ð y  yg Þvg  ð11Þ
Uav
where subscript nb refers to all nodes neighboring node P, 1
Ds is the time step, uop and vop refers to the values of up and Y ¼ ½ðx  xg Þvg þ ð y  yg Þug  ð12Þ
op op Uav
vp at last time, h oxi and h oyi are the average values of
where the subscript g refers to the elemental centroid and
( op op
ox) and ( oy) acting over the entire control volume Uav is the magnitude of the average velocity vector uav of
surrounding node P evaluated by assuming a linear
the element.
variation of pressure.
Let suppose that uav prevails over the entire element
The pressure, which has not a proper equation, is in-
PAB, when the flow is steady state, Eq. (2) can be
directly specified through satisfaction of mass conserva-
expressed in the local coordinate system (X; Y) by:
tion equation (1). Equations (5) and (6) can be rewritten  2 
as: oui o ui o2 ui

 qUav ¼ Si þ l þ ð13Þ
op oX oX 2 oY 2
up ¼ u~p þ Bp  ð7Þ
ox where Si is now the total source term containing an

 eventual body force term and the pressure gradients. For
op
vp ¼ v~p þ Bp  ð8Þ computing the flux of Ji over the control volume sur-
oy rounding node P, Baliga and Patankar (1980) propose the
where u~p and v~p represents pseudo-velocity components, following shape function:
and Bp the pressure-gradient coefficient. Their expressions  
Uav X
are easily identified by comparing Eqs. (7) and (8) re- ui ¼ A exp q þ BY þ C ð14Þ
spectively to Eqs. (5) and (6). l
 One rationale for choosing this shape function was that it 1
satisfies the homogeneous form of Eq. (13) obtained by p ¼  ½cosð2xÞ þ cosð2yÞ expð4s=ReÞ ð20Þ
4
setting Si ¼ 0. Equation (14) is the first variant of FLO.
The numerical domain considered in this study is a square
Prakash (1986) propose a shape function that satisfies the
of side p in witch x and y are in the range of p=2 and p=2.
complete inhomogeneous equation (13):
  Figure 2 is a plot of the velocity field of the Green–Taylor
Uav X Si X vortex at time s ¼ 1 and Re = 100 computed using the LI
ui ¼ A exp q þ BY þ C þ ð15Þ scheme.
l qUav
To Prakash (1986), the choice of the term ðSi X=qUav Þ is Application over an element
motivated by the facts that the choice is simple and that The triangular element PAB in which we will compare the
306 for certain one-dimensional situations; it produces an FLO and the LI schemes is given in Fig. 3. Values of ui at
exact solution to the problem. Equation (15) is the first nods P, A and B are given by Eqs. (18) and (19) at s ¼ 1
Si X
variant of FLOS. The particular term qU av
is just one pos- and Re = 100 and serve to calculate the coefficients of the
sible choice that makes the interpolation function (15) interpolation functions. Values of ui at the seven internal
verify the Eq. (13). Other particular terms can also be nodes of the triangular element PAB are deduced using
chosen if found justifiable. In this context, Hookey (1989) either FLO (17) or LI (10) and compared to exact solutions
propose an other variant of Eq. (15): given by Eqs. (18) and (19). Since most software of
  triangularisation have tendency to construct equilateral
X Y2
ui ¼ An þ BY þ C þ Si  ð16Þ elements, the element of Fig. 3 is also equilateral and of a
2qUav 4l
the variable n is defined as:
  
l PeD ðX  Xmax Þ
n¼ 1 þ exp
qUav Xmax  Xmin
where PeD is the elemental Peclet number, it is an indicator
of the relative strengths of convection to diffusion within
the element and defined as:
qUav ðXmax  Xmin Þ
PeD ¼
l
Xmax and Xmin are defined as:
Xmax ¼ MAXðXP ; XA ; XB Þ and
Xmin ¼ MINðXP ; XA ; XB Þ
Equation (16) is another variant of the FLOS scheme.
The detailed study of Saabas and Baliga (1994) show
that the FLOS scheme (16) do not guarantee the continuity
of ui across the control-volume boundaries and have no
advantage compared to FLO. They propose as an inter-
polation function the same Eq. (16) but without term Fig. 2. Green–Taylor vortex at Re = 100 and s ¼ 1 obtained
source. using the LI scheme
ui ¼ An þ BY þ C ð17Þ
Equation (17) is the final form of the FLO scheme and will
be compared, in this study with the LI scheme (10). Fol-
lowing is a comparison of FLO (17) and LI (10) over four
examples of laminar flows that we know the exact
solutions.

4
Flows without privileged direction

4.1
Green–Taylor vortex
Dimensionless exact solutions of the Green–Taylor vortex
are given as:
u ¼  cosðxÞ sinð yÞ expð2s=ReÞ ð18Þ
v ¼ sinðxÞ cosð yÞ expð2s=ReÞ ð19Þ Fig. 3. Triangular element with seven internal nodes
side L. We define the error in percent committed in the of the elemental Peclet number PeD . For these curves, PeD
calculation of ui as: is varied by varying the global Reynolds number and
  keeping fixe the value of L at 0.01 which is a moderate
ui ðexactÞ  ui ðcalculatedÞ
Errorðui Þ ¼ max   100
 value in CVFEM. The relation between PeD and Re is given
ui ðexactÞ by:
ð21Þ PeD ¼ Uav ðXmax  Xmin ÞRe ð22Þ
The triangular element PAB is placed in the calculation In all rigor, both FLO and LI leads to accurate results since
domain so that the node P is placed at the point of coor- errorðuÞ is less than 0.75% because the fixed value of L is
dinates (x ¼ 1, y ¼ 1). We note that all curves presented not large but, as seen in Fig. 5, the LI scheme is clearly
have the same appearance even we move the triangular more accurate than the FLO scheme.
element to many other places of the domain. We note also, 307
that errorðuÞ and errorðvÞ are found to be almost of the Application over the entire domain
same magnitude, so, only errorðuÞ will be presented in this The discretized Eqs. (5), (6) and (9) are solved using the
section. SIMPLER algorithm for the Green–Taylor vortex over the
Figure 4 is a plot of the variation of errorðuÞ as a entire domain which is a square of side p as indicated in
function of the elemental side L. Starting from a very week Fig. 2. Calculated solutions are compared to the exact
value of L, curves corresponding to FLO and LI are con- solutions given by Eqs. (18)–(20). Now the error expressed
fused. This result is expected, indeed, if L tends to zero the in percent is computed as:
elemental Peclet number PeD tends also to zero and then P
the FLO scheme given by Eq. (17) is identical to the LI j/ðexactÞ  /ðcalculatedÞj
errorð/Þ ¼ P  100 ð23Þ
scheme given by Eq. (10). As increasing the side L, the j/ðexactÞj
error given by the FLO becomes more important com-
where the summation is taken over all nodes of the cal-
pared to that given by the LI scheme. Figure 4 shows
culation domain and / is the dependent variable (/ ¼ u, v
clearly that over an element the LI scheme is far more
or p). Here also errorðuÞ and errorðvÞ are found to be
accurate than the FLO scheme. This result is confirmed in
almost of the same magnitude, so in the following study
Fig. 5 where we plot the variation of errorðuÞ as a function
only errorðuÞ and errorð pÞ will be presented. errorð pÞ is
calculated not to test the interpolation function of pressure
but to evaluate the effects of LI and FLO on the evolution
of pressure field via velocity components. The Reynolds
number is fixed at Re = 100 and the time step at
Ds ¼ 0:01. Results are obtained by a grid of 3369 nodes
and 6524 elements, this grid is slightly more refined than
the most refined grid used by Braza (1981) with classic
control volume (3136 nodes). The purpose of this para-
graph is the comparison of the effects of FLO and LI
schemes on the stability of the numerical process and on
the accuracy of solutions. Starting from exact fields of u
and v obtained by Eqs. (18) and (19) at s ¼ 0 and
Re = 100 and from an identical zero field for pressure, the
numerical process is abandoned to it’s self and stopped at
s ¼ 1.
Fig. 4. Variation of errorðuÞ as a function of the element side L As can be seen in Fig. 6, where we plot the evolution of
errorðuÞ as a function of time, the curve corresponding to

Fig. 5. Variation of errorðuÞ as a function of the elemental Peclet

number Fig. 6. Evolution of errorðuÞ
 the LI scheme leads to damping oscillations. While
errorðuÞ corresponding to the FLO scheme increases
considerably and it seams that the numerical process will
diverge if the time is sufficiently prolonged. It should be
noted that curves of Fig. 6 do not start from 0% because
boundary conditions are fixed during the numerical evo-
lution at s ¼ 1. Figure 7 compare errorð pÞ obtained by
FLO to that obtained by LI. We remark that both schemes
leads to damping oscillations but oscillations of the LI are
of less magnitude. The variation of errorð/Þ as a function
of the Reynolds number has been also realized. Results
308
shows that for Reynolds numbers ranging from 10 to 500,
the LI scheme leads always to more accurate solutions than
those given by the FLO scheme.
by respectively the characteristic velocity ð2r1 xÞ and the
characteristic length r1 . We will compare FLO and LI over
the triangular element PAB of Fig. 4. The node P is placed
at x ¼ 1:5 and y ¼ 1:5.
Figure 9 is a plot of errorðuÞ, given by Eq. (21), as a
function of the triangular side L for the schemes LI and
FLO. As can be seen, LI is more precise especially when L
increases. It should be noted that exact solutions for this
flow do not depend on the Reynolds number Re, whereas
FLO needs this value. As in Prakash (1986) we have choose
arbitrary values of Re for using the FLO scheme. Curve
indicate in Fig. 9 is obtained with Re = 1. We have verified
numerically that errorðuÞ obtained by FLO increases
considerably with increasing Re.

Fig. 9. Variation of errorðuÞ as a function of the element side L

Fig. 7. Evolution of errorð pÞ

Fig. 10. Flow in a plane channel

5
Flows with privileged direction

Fig. 8. Flow between rotating cylinders 5.1

Laminar flow in a plane channel
The model with boundary conditions is presented in
4.2 Fig. 10. The exact dimensionless value of u-component at
Flow between rotating cylinders the channel axis in the region where the flow is established
The model of this flow is presented in Fig. 8. The inner is exactly 1.5. The study of grid independence shows that a
cylinder is motionless while the outer cylinder rotates with grid of 2000 nodes and 6000 elements is sufficient to
angular frequency x. The dimensionless exact solutions predict this flow.
are as follow: The distribution of u-component along the channel axis
  obtained using LI and FLO at Re = 100 is presented in
2 1 y
u¼ r ð24Þ Fig. 11. FLO over-estimate the value of u-component of
3 r r about 1.73% whereas LI gives very accurate results.
 
2 1 x
v¼ r ð25Þ 5.2
3 r r
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Laminar uniform flow
With r ¼ x2 þ y2 , the aspect ratio is fixed at r2 =r1 ¼ 2. This flow is encountered far away from an obstacle or a
Velocity components and lengths are adimensionnalised wall and encountered also in the nature as a free flow.

Fig. 11. Distribution of u-component at the channel axis.
Re = 100
Suppose that at the nodes P, A and B of the triangular
element of Fig. 4 a uniform flow so that u ¼ 1 and v ¼ 0. It
is evident that at the seven internal nodes of the element
PAB, exact solutions are also u ¼ 1 and v ¼ 0. Results
show that for this flow (or region of flow) LI and FLO are
both very accurate. For different values of Reynolds
number Re and side L, errorðuÞ is less than 1010 . For this
flow we conclude that FLO has no advantage when com-
pared to LI.
6
Discussion
The non precision of the FLO scheme given by Eq. (17) is
may du to the fact that it is not a solution of the Eq. (13).
Furthermore, the approximation considering that uav
prevails over the entire triangular element serving to es-
tablish Eq. (13) itself, seams to be not consistent. If we
accept this approximation, components ui will be obliga-
tory constants over the triangular element, and then an
interpolation function is not needed. The approximation
indicated above is may be acceptable for transportable
variable other than velocity components. The FLO scheme
needs the calculation of the local coordinate system given
by Eqs. (11) and (12). This makes the calculation cost
more expensive then LI. Furthermore, if over an element
of the domain Uav tends to zero, the numerical process can
be interrupted if particular precautions are not made.
Patankar (1981) showed that the centered scheme in
classic volume, which is equivalent to LI scheme in
CVFEM, is tolerated only for low Reynolds numbers. The
principal cause is that the centered scheme produces
‘‘numerical diffusion’’. This cause is realist because the
control volume used in two dimensional classic control
volume is rectangular and then has only four faces, then
numerical diffusion can easily happen. Other interpolation
functions are proposed such as upwind and exponential
schemes. In CVFEM the grid is not structured, the control
volume has far more faces than that in classic volume. In
CVFEM a given node has in general five to eight neigh-
boring nodes, then the control volume around this node
has ten to sixteen faces. In this configuration, we estimate
that the numerical diffusion produced by the LI scheme
has secondary effects on the accuracy of the numerical
results. This is what explains the superiority of LI scheme
on the FLO scheme in CVFEM applied to laminar flows.
7
Conclusion
A comparison of the classic linear interpolation to the
exponential interpolation used in control volume finite
309
element method in the case of two-dimensional incom-
pressible laminar fluid flow has been presented in this
paper. These interpolation functions studied in this work
concern only the velocity components when they are
treated as transported scalars in the appropriate momen-
tum equations. The comparison is made by the application
of LI and FLO to four laminar incompressible flows that
we know the exact solutions. This study shows that for
flows without privileged direction LI is clearly more ac-
curate and more stable than FLO. For flows with privileged
direction, LI and FLO are both accurate. As a general
conclusion, for laminar flows, FLO should be abandoned
in favor of LI; especially FLO should not be used in flows
containing rolls such as shedding vortices behind obstacle
and convective cells due to heat transfer.
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