An adaptive hybrid Cartesian grid (AHCG) method with a finite volume type Reynolds average Navier-Stokes (RANS) flow solver was developed for simulation of compressible viscous flows. While the near body region was provided with body-fitted structured grids to resolve the boundary layers

the remaining computational domain was tessellated with generated Cartesian grid

and feature-based grid adaptations were carried out for simulating the flowfield more accurately. By using the ADT (alternating digital tree) algorithm

the costed turnaround time of chimera type hole-cutting and identification of donor cells could be decreased very efficiently

and 0.062s was costed

up to only 1/1847 of the normal traversal approach when the grid number reached 500000. Through simulations of flow past 2-D cylinder and 2-element airfoil

it is concluded that steady AHCG method can predict surface pressure distribution

lift and drag coefficients successfully and has the ability of solving complex configurations. The simulation of unsteady flow past 2-D cylinder and the capture of 3-D wing tip vortex past a NACA0015 rectangular wing demonstrates that unsteady AHCG method with dynamic adaptive mesh refinement is especially suited for vortex-dominated flows.