The convergence of a fourth order finite difference method for the 2-D unsteady, viscous incompressible Boussinesq equations, based on the vorticity-stream function formulation, is established in this article. A compact fourth order scheme is used to discretize the momentum equation, and long-stencil fourth order operators are applied to discretize the temperature transport equation. A local vorticity boundary condition is used to enforce the no-slip boundary condition for the velocity. One-sided extrapolation is used near the boundary, dependent on the type of boundary condition for the temperature, to prescribe the temperature at ‘‘ghost’’ points lying outside of the computational domain. Theoretical results of the stability and accuracy of the method are also provided. In numerical experiments the method has been shown to be capable of producing highly resolved solutions at a reasonable computational cost.

Using the vorticity and stream function variables is an effective way to compute 2-D incompressible flow due to the facts that the incompressibility constraint for the velocity is automatically satisfied, the pressure variable is eliminated, and high order schemes can be efficiently implemented. However, a difficulty arises in a multi-connected computational domain in determining the constants for the stream function on the boundary of the “holes”. This is an especially challenging task for the calculation of unsteady flows, since these constants vary with time to reflect the total fluxes of the flow in each sub-channel. In this paper, we propose an efficient method in a finite difference setting to solve this problem and present some numerical experiments, including an accuracy check of a Taylor vortex-type flow, flow past a non-symmetric square, and flow in a heat exchanger.

We investigate a generalization of Hopf algebra $\mathfrak{sl}_{q}\left( 2\right) $ by weakening the invertibility of the generator $K$, i.e. exchanging its invertibility $KK^{-1}=1$ to the regularity $K\overline{K}K=K$. This leads to a weak Hopf algebra $w\mathfrak{sl}_{q}\left( 2\right) $ and a $J$-weak Hopf algebra $v\mathfrak{sl}_{q}\left( 2\right) $ which are studied in detail. It is shown that the monoids of group-like elements of $w\mathfrak{sl}_{q}\left( 2\right) $ and $v\mathfrak{sl}_{q}\left( 2\right) $ are regular monoids, which supports the general conjucture on the connection betweek weak Hopf algebras and regular monoids. Moreover, from $w\mathfrak{sl}_{q}\left( 2\right) $ a quasi-braided weak Hopf algebra $\overline{U}_{q}^{w}$ is constructed and it is shown that the corresponding quasi-$R$-matrix is regular $R^{w}\hat{R}^{w}R^{w}=R^{w}$.

We propose a class of simple and efficient numerical scheme for incompressible fluid equations with coordinate symmetry. By introducing a generalized vorticity-stream formulation, the divergence free constraints are automatically satisfied. In addition, with explicit treatment of the nonlinear terms and local vorticity boundary condition, the Navier–Stokes (MHD, respectively) equation essentially decouples into 2 (4, respectively) scalar equation and thus the scheme is very efficient. Moreover, with proper discretization of the nonlinear terms, the scheme preserves both energy and helicity identities numerically. This is achieved by recasting the nonlinear terms (convection, vorticity stretching, geometric source, Lorentz force and electro-motive force) in terms of Jacobians. This conservative property is valid even in the presence of the pole singularity for axisymmetric flows. The exact conservation of energy and helicity has effectively eliminated excessive numerical viscosity. Numerical examples have demonstrated both accuracy and efficiency of the scheme. Finally, local mesh refinement near the boundary can also be easily incorporated into the scheme without extra cost.

We study the detailed process of bifurcation in the flow’s topological structure for a two-dimensional (2-D) incompressible flow subject to no-slip boundary conditions and its connection with boundary-layer separation. The boundary-layer separation theory of M. Ghil, T. Ma and S. Wang, based on the structural-bifurcation concept, is translated into vorticity form. The vorticity formulation of the theory shows that structural bifurcation occurs whenever a degenerate singular point for the vorticity appears on the boundary; this singular point is characterized by nonzero tangential second-order derivative and nonzero time derivative of the vorticity. Furthermore, we prove the presence of an adverse pressure gradient at the critical point, due to reversal in the direction of the pressure force with respect to the basic shear flow at this point. A numerical example of 2-D driven-cavity flow, governed by the Navier Stokes equations, is presented; boundary-layer separation occurs, the bifurcation criterion is satisfied, and an adverse pressure gradient is shown to be present.