Lid driven cavity flow using stencil-based numerical methods

Abstract: In this report the regular finite differences method (FDM) and a least-squares radial basis function-generated finite differences method (RBF-FD-LS) is used to solve the two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for the lid driven cavity problem. The Navier-Stokes equations is solved using stream function-vorticity formulation. The purpose of the report is to compare FDM and RBF-FD-LS with respect to accuracy and computational cost. Both methods were implemented in MATLAB and the problem was solved for Reynolds numbers equal to 100, 400 and 1000. In the report we present the solutions obtained as well as the results from the comparison. The results are discussed and conclusions are drawn. We came to the conclusion that RBF-FD-LS is more accurate when the stepsize of the grids used is held constant, while RBF-FD-LS costs more than FDM for similar accuracy.