[b.gaurav]

Is it okay to use a pressure based solver for supersonic flows? I need to run a multiphase problem and hence cannot use a density based solver.
Thank you in advance for your comments.
Cheers!

[LuckyTran]

Yes. At least it is not a wrong approach, you can try and hopefully you won't have blatant inaccuracies. You can even use the coupled p-v solver instead of SIMPLE/PISO to have a solver that's closer in behavior to the density-based solver.

The main difference is the order the equations are solved in. In the density-based approach the momentum, continuity, and energy equations are solved together. In the pressure-based approach only the momentum and continuity equations are solved together and the energy equation is put off until after the pressure correction step. This gives the density-based solver an advantage when rapid changes in material properties take place.

A consequence of these differences is that in the density based solver, the density is solved from continuity and then the pressure field is computed from the equation of state. In the pressure-based solver, a predictor-corrector approach is used (the p-v coupling scheme) to compute the pressure field and later the material properties are updated based on P,T. You can see the philosophical difference as one solves for the density and looks up the pressure whereas the other solves for pressure and looks up the density.

[b.gaurav]

Appreciate your help lucky!