A virtual-characteristic approach is developed for thermo-flow with finite-volume methodology in which a
multidimensional characteristic (MC) scheme is applied along with artificial compressibility. To obtain
compatibility equations and pseudo-characteristics, energy equation is taken into account in the MC
scheme. With this inherent upwinding of convective fluxes, no artificial viscosity is required even at high
Reynolds numbers. Another remarkable advantage of the MC scheme lies in its faster convergence rate with
respect to the averaging scheme that is found to exhibit substantial delays in convergence. As benchmarks,
forced and mixed convections in a cavity and in flow over cylinder and between parallel plates are examined
for a wide range of Reynolds, Grashof, and Prandtl numbers. The MC and averaging schemes are applied
for simulation purposes. Results show the better performance of the MC scheme in forced and mixed
convections. Results confirm the robustness of the MC scheme in terms of accuracy and convergence.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.