Laminar flow past a backward step

A variational formulation is applied to the task of defining reliable boundary conditions and generating an appropriate computational grid for simulating laminar flow over a backward facing step in terms of a numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. The model is adapted to a step-duct situation with tailored inlet, outlet and solid wall boundary conditions. A pseudo-time integration scheme is introduced to extend the model to obtain steady-state conditions. The extended version is used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for flow around a sharp corner. The formulation is shown to provide a good representation of vorticity gradients at the corner.