Last modified: 2026-06-28
Abstract
In this study, the Generalized Finite Difference Method (GFDM), a meshless approach, is applied to incompressible viscous flow in an eccentric annulus using the vorticity–stream function formulation. The method is validated with the lid-driven cavity problem and then used to analyze flow between eccentric cylinders for Reynolds numbers between 250 and 1000 and eccentricity ratios up to 80%.
The results show that increasing Reynolds number and eccentricity significantly affect velocity distributions and streamline patterns, including the emergence of Taylor vortices. For the concentric case, numerical results agree well with the analytical solution, with an average deviation of about 5%. At high Reynolds numbers, convergence difficulties arise due to dominant convective effects.
The findings indicate that GFDM is an effective tool for modeling annular flows, although additional numerical treatments may be required for convection-dominated regimes.