A pure-compact scheme for the streamfunction formulation of Navier-Stokes equations

A pure-streamfunction formulation is introduced for the numerical simulation of the two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The idea is to replace the vorticity in the vorticity-streamfunction evolution equation by the Laplacian of the streamfunction. The resulting formulation includes the streamfunction only, thus no inter-function relations need to be invoked. A compact numerical scheme, which interpolates strearnfunction values as well as its first order derivatives, is presented and analyzed. A number of numerical experiments are presented, including driven and double driven cavities, where the Reynolds numbers are sufficiently large, leading to symmetry breaking of asymptotic solutions. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.