A compact higher order characteristic-based Euler solver for unstructured grids

Two new methods are presented for solving the Euler equations using a compact higher order polynomial reconstruction technique on unstructured grids. The methods use a characteristic-based approach with a cell-centered finite volume method. For transonic Ringleb flow, computations are performed for first order to fourth order accuracy and are compared with the hodograph solution. Results for a 10 degree ramp case are also presented. An analysis is performed which demonstrates that the higher order method is an order of magnitude more efficient than the lower order method in modeling the flow for moderate to fine error tolerances. Accuracy, speed and memory requirements are evaluated in the efficiency study.