Marker-And-Cell (MAC) Method

The equations for continuity and momentum may be expressed in the dimensionless form as
follows:
ui
0 (1)
xi

ui  ui u j  p 1  2 ui
   (2)
t x j xi Re x 2j

In the above equations, the velocities are non-dimensionalised with the average velocity, u∞ at the
inlet, all lengths with the obstacle width, d and the pressure by ρu∞2. The momentum equation is
written using as a space operator, g, containing the convection and diffusion terms as

ui p
 g (ui , u j )  (3)
t xi

Eqn (2) is discretized explicitly as

ui*  ui n p
n
  g (ui , u j )
n
(4)
t xi

It is to be noted that in the above step, the time-advanced velocities are not correct ones but
provisional velocities ( ui ) which may not satisfy continuity because of not using the correct

pressure, pn+1. The correct pressure field (pn+1) will lead to correct velocities, uin+1. Use of correct
pressure results in correct velocity and can be found as follows (using second order discretization)
n 1 n n 1
ui  ui p n
  g ( ui , u j ) (5)
t xi

Using Eqns (4) and (5), it can be written

ui n 1  u *i    p
t
  
p n 1  p n    (6)
 xi  xi
Where, p is the pressure correction ( p  p n 1  p n ) or p n  1  p   p n ,                  (6a) 

Eqn (6) can also be written as

p
ui n 1  ui*   t  (7)
xi
One can also write for x-direction velocity from Eqn (7) as
p(l 1,k ,m)  p(l ,k ,m)
u n 1
 u   t 
*
(8)
x

Taking divergence of the above equation (7), one can write as follows after invoking continuity

equation (1)
ui n 1 u *  2 p
 0  i   t  2
xi xi xi

ui*
 2 p xi
 (9)
xi2  t 

Eqn (8) is called the pressure correction Poissons equation. One can solve the Eqn (9) directly to get

the pressure correction, p and use this to correct pressure and velocities which will satisfy

continuity using Eqns (6a and 8). In this method no iteration is involved as the Poisson’s equation is

solved exactly without any approximation unlike to the following approach.

The second order central difference spatial discretization of the left hand side term of the above

equation (9) is given by

p( k 1,l , m )  2 p( k ,l , m )  p( k 1,l , m ) p( k ,l 1, m )  2 p( k ,l ,m )  p( k ,l 1, m ) p( k ,l ,m 1)  2 p( k ,l ,m )  p( k ,l , m 1) 
  
 x   y   z 
2 2 2


ui*  (10)

x 
 i
 t  

In the above equation, the grid indices are written as superscripts to avoid confusion with the tensor

notations.

After neglecting the neighbouring correction terms one can write Eqn (10) as

ui*   1 1 1  
p( k ,l ,m )   r0  2 t    2 
 (11)
xi      
2 2
   x  y  z 
 
Similarly, Eqn (8) can also be written after neglecting the neighbouring correction terms as
p(l ,k ,m)
u n 1(l ,k ,m )  u*(l ,k ,m)   t  (12)
x
p(l ,k ,m)
u n1(l 1,k ,m)  u*(l 1,k ,m)   t  (13)
x

It would be better to mention that since the present technique uses an iterative technique to solve the

pressure correction equation, the elimination of the neighbouring terms will not affect the solution if

the iteration continues till the velocity field is divergence free (a tolerance of about 10-5 or less for

the maximum divergence of any cell over the entire domain).

In general form for all velocity components, it can be written as

 t  (l ,k ,m )
uin 1  ui*    p
 xi 
Once the pressure and velocity fields are corrected within a time step, the calculation for the next
time level (n+1) starts by taking the previous time level (n) pressure field which, as mentioned
earlier, may not satisfy the continuity equation and results in provisional velocity field. The entire
pressure and velocity corrections are applied as discussed earlier.

=====================================================================
The solution algorithm for the modified MAC method is the following.

Thus the predictor step for the time advancement takes the form

* n n
ui  ui p n
  g ( ui , u j ) (1a)
t xi

It is to be noted that above step results in provisional velocity ( ui ) which may not satisfy continuity

because of not using the correct pressure, pn+1.

This is followed by the corrector step

ui*   1 1 1  
p   r0  2 t    2 
 (2a)
xi   x   y   z   
2 2


The final solution for velocity and pressure are given as

 n 1 n
p  p  p (3a)

n 1 * t
ui  ui  p (4a)
xi

The corrector step (Eqs. 6 - 8) is solved by point-wise Gauss-Seidel iterations with r0 as an over-
relaxation factor to accelerate the pressure correction process. A typical value of r0 used in all the
simulations is 1.8. In corrector step, the algebraic equation for pressure correction, p, derived by
neglecting the pressure corrections of the neighboring cells of the discretized pressure correction
Poisson’s equation, are solved. This simplification is permissible due to the fact that the pressure
and velocity correction technique in the corrector step is an iterative one. Subsequent to calculation
of pressure correction, pressure and velocities are corrected using Eqs. (2a) and (4a) and this is
repeated till the divergence free field is achieved. After getting the correct velocity and pressure, the
solution for the next time level is sought.
It is to be mentioned here that the arrow sign indicate the better prediction after each
iteration though the superscript is (n+1). Once the iteration leads to a predicted value that
satisfies continuity is the correct velocity and pressure at that time level. In every time-step, only
once the momentum equations are solved explicitly while the pressure correction equation
(algebraic) is solved iteratively for a divergence free field.