Whether unstructured meshes of triangles can accurately capture a high Reynolds number boundary layer remains a hotly disputed topic. Despite the importance of this question and its implication for the future development of mesh generation methods there is surprisingly little evidence, either empirical or theoretical, on which one can attempt an answer.

We present a theoretical treatment that estimates the solution error which arises when using a finite volume flow solver to capture a boundary layer on a mesh of triangles. By examining the special case of the Blasius solution for incompressible flow over a flat plate we present arguments to indicate that accurate results can be obtained if one uses appropriately shaped triangles.

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1996-1997 Mathematics in High Performance Computing