Re: Method of Solution in FLUENT

In Computational fluid dynamics by T.J Chuang, you will find that finite
volume method (FVM) can be formulated from either finite difference (FDM)
or finite element (FEM). FDM is for structured grids but can be applied to
unstructured grids via FVM. For all I know, FLUENT uses FVM.

Pavan Kumar wrote:

> I have been using FLUENT for a while now. I had this idea all this
> while that FLUENT uses Finite Differece method for the discretization
> (which is common while solving most of the problems in CFD). But
> recently I was reading through the description of the discretization
> schemes in the FLUENT documentation and I got this feeling that it was
> using Finite Element Methods rather than Finite Difference methods. I
> am not very sure about this though. The documentation says it uses a
> Control-Volume approach but like I said it looks very much like Finite
> Element method to me. Can anybody clear my confusion and tell me what
> is it that FLUENT uses? Also, it would be a great help if one could
> tell me what is the difference between a Control VOlume Technique and
> Finite Element Method; if there is any.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Pavan