Third order residual distribution schemes for the Navier–Stokes equations

We construct a third order multidimensional upwind residual distribution scheme for the system of the Navier–Stokes equations. The underlying approximation is obtained using standard P2 Lagrange finite elements. To discretise the inviscid component of the equations, each element is divided in sub-elements over which we compute a high order residual defined as the integral of the inviscid fluxes on the boundary of the sub-element. The residuals are distributed to the nodes of each sub-element in a multi-dimensional upwind way. To obtain a discretisation of the viscous terms consistent with this multi-dimensional upwind approach, we make use of a Petrov–Galerkin analogy. The analogy allows to find a family of test functions which can be used to obtain a weak approximation of the viscous terms. The performance of this high-order method is tested on flows with high and low Reynolds number.