Open Access

ABSTRACT

Extension of an Error Estimator Approach Based on Gradient Recovery for the Panel Method

by B.S. Sousa¹, D.R. Petrucci¹, A.B. Jorge¹, N. Manzanares-Filho¹

1 Mechanical Engineering Institute, Federal University of Itajubá, Av. BPS, 1303 – Itajubá , MG – 37500-903 Brasil

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences 2007, 4(1), 47-52. https://doi.org/10.3970/icces.2007.004.047

Abstract

The use of computational methods in modern engineering is an irreversible trend, especially in the field of aerodynamics. The validation of these methods is an essential part of their development. In many situations this validation can be made by using experimental results. In other situations, particularly for potential flow methods, the validation can be made by using analytical results (Joukowski, Karman-Trefftz and Van de Vooren airfoils, for example). In general situations, however, especially when no analytical solutions are available (for example, NACA airfoils series), it is highly desirable to know the errors due to the use of numerical methods in a different but systematic and reliable way. For this reason, estimators for the discretization error are an important tool in the development of computational methods, in order to obtain more general and robust applications. In this work, an extension of a local error estimator approach based on the gradient recovery procedure is presented, for linear elements, and compared with two error estimators, previously presented by the authors, for vortex-based Panel Methods.

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