Consistent Stabilization

This section contains two consistent stabilization methods: streamline diffusion and crosswind diffusion. These are consistent stabilization methods, which means that they do not perturb the original transport equation.

The consistent stabilization methods are active by default. A stabilization method is active when the corresponding check box is selected.

Streamline Diffusion

Streamline diffusion is active by default and should remain active for optimal performance for heat transfer in fluids or other applications that include a convective or translational term.

Crosswind Diffusion

Streamline diffusion introduces artificial diffusion in the streamline direction. This is often enough to obtain a smooth numerical solution provided that the exact solution of the heat equation does not contain any discontinuities. At sharp gradients, however, undershoots and overshoots can occur in the numerical solution. Crosswind diffusion addresses these spurious oscillations by adding diffusion orthogonal to the streamline direction—that is, in the crosswind direction.