Theoretical and Numerical Background

This chapter describes the numerical methods used to solve equations in the FiPy programming environment. FiPy uses the finite volume method (FVM) to solve coupled sets of partial differential equations (PDEs). For a good introduction to the FVM see Nick Croft’s PhD thesis [croftphd], Patankar [patankar] or Versteeg and Malalasekera [versteegMalalasekera].

Essentially, the FVM consists of dividing the solution domain into discrete finite volumes over which the state variables are approximated with linear or higher order interpolations. The derivatives in each term of the equation are satisfied with simple approximate interpolations in a process known as discretization. The (FVM) is a popular discretization technique employed to solve coupled PDEs used in many application areas (e.g., Fluid Dynamics).

The FVM can be thought of as a subset of the Finite Element Method (FEM), just as the Finite Difference Method (FDM) is a subset of the FVM. A system of equations fully equivalent to the FVM can be obtained with the FEM using as weighting functions the characteristic functions of FV cells, i.e., functions equal to unity [Mattiussi:1997]. Analogously, the discretization of equations with the FVM reduces to the FDM on Cartesian grids.

• General Conservation Equation
• Finite Volume Method
  • Cell Centered FVM (CC-FVM)
  • Vertex Centered FVM (VC-FVM)
• Discretization
  • Transient Term
  • Convection Term
  • Diffusion Term
    • Higher order diffusion
  • Source Term
• Linear Equations
• Numerical Schemes