Transonic airfoil calculations using solution-adaptive grids

Abstract

A new algorithm for generating solution-adaptive grids (SAG) about airfoil configurations embedded in transonic flow is presented. The present SAG approach uses only the airfoil surface solution to recluster grid points on the airfoil surface, i.e., the reclustering problem is one dimension smaller than the flow-field calculation problem. Special controls automatically built into the elliptic grid generation procedure are then used to obtain grids with suitable interior behavior. This concept of redistributing grid points greatly simplifies the idea of solution-adaptive grids. Numerical results indicate significant improvements in accuracy for SAG grids relative to standard grids using the same number of points.