Award Date

1-1-2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

Darrell Pepper

Number of Pages

60

Abstract

In the past, the world of numerical solutions for Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow problems has been dominated by Finite Element Method, Finite Difference Method, Finite Volume Method, and more recently the Boundary Element Method. These methods revolve around using a mesh or grid to solve problems. However, problems with irregular boundaries and domains can be difficult to properly discretize; In this thesis, heat transfer and fluid flow problems are solved using Radial Basis Functions. This method is meshless, easy to understand, and even easier to implement. Radial Basis Functions are used to solve lid-driven cavity flow, natural convection in a square enclosure, flow with forced convection over backward facing step and flow over an airfoil. Codes are developed using MATLAB. The results are compared with COMSOL and FLUENT, two popular commercial codes widely used. COMSOL is a finite element model while FLUENT is a finite volume-based code.

Keywords

Basis; Flow; Fluid; Function; Heat; Meshless; Method; Problems; Radial; Solution; Transfer

Controlled Subject

Mechanical engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

1105.92 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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