The use of direct solvers for compressible flow computations

The feasibility of using a vectorized direct solver for the compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is examined for both single-grid and multi-grid strategies. A procedure is developed for comparing the computational effort required for the direct method with that of the vertical line Gauss-Seidel iteration scheme in order to provide a criteria for choosing between the two techniques. The direct method is shown to have a relatively wide range of application on a vector processor with large memory. Results for both inviscid and viscous test problems in two-dimensions are examined.