Improvements to compressible Euler methods for low‐Mach number flows

In the present study improvements to numerical algorithms for the solution of the compressible Euler equations at low Mach numbers are investigated. To solve flow problems for a wide range of Mach numbers, from the incompressible limit to supersonic speeds, preconditioning techniques are frequently employed. On the other hand, one can achieve the same aim by using a suitably modified acoustic damping method. The solution algorithm presently under consideration is based on Roe's approximate Riemann solver [Roe PL. Approximate Riemann solvers, parameter vectors and difference schemes. Journal of Computational Physics 1981; 43 : 357–372] for non‐structured meshes. The numerical flux functions are modified by using Turkel's preconditioning technique proposed by Viozat [Implicit upwind schemes for low Mach number compressible flows. INRIA, Rapport de Recherche No. 3084, January 1997] for compressible Euler equations and by using a modified acoustic damping of the stabilization term proposed in the present study. These methods allow the compressible Euler equations at low‐Mach number flows to be solved, and they are consistent in time. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed modifications have been assessed by comparison with experimental data and other numerical results in the literature. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Singular Incompressible Limit of Inviscid Compressible Fluids

We consider the Euler equations of barotropic inviscid compressible fluids in a bounded domain. It is well known that, as the Mach number goes to zero, the compressible flows approximate the solution of the equations of motion of inviscid, incompressible fluids. In this paper we discuss, for the boundary case, the different kinds of convergence under various assumptions on the data, in particular the weak convergence in the case of uniformly bounded initial data and the strong convergence in the norm of the data space.     

Euler solutions for aerodynamic inverse shape design

Contributions to the aerodynamics development have to be involved to achieve an increase in quality, reducing time and computer costs. Therefore, this work develops an optimization method based on the finite volume explicit Runge–Kutta multi‐stage scheme with central spatial discretization in combination with multigrid and preconditioning. The multigrid approach includes local time‐stepping and residual smoothing. Such a method allows getting the goal of compressible and almost incompressible solution of fluid flows, having a rate of convergence almost independent from the Mach number. Numerical tests are carried out for the NACA 0012 and 0009 airfoils and three‐dimensional wings based on NACA profiles for Mach‐numbers ranging from 0.8 to 0.002 using the Euler equations. These calculations are found to compare favorably with experimental and numerical data available in the literature. Besides, it is worth pointing out that these results build on earlier ones when finding appropriate new three‐dimensional aerodynamical geometries. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Local pressure preconditioning method for steady incompressible flows

The convergence and accuracy characteristics of the preconditioned incompressible Euler and Navier–Stokes equations are studied. An object-oriented C++ numerical code has been developed for solving the inviscid and viscous, steady, incompressible flows problems. The code is based on the cell-centred finite volume method. In this scheme, two-dimensional incompressible Euler and Navier–Stokes equations are modified by a robust artificial compressibility (AC) and a local preconditioning matrix of pressure-sensor type. The preconditioned equations are solved with the Jameson's numerical approach, i.e. artificial dissipation and artificial viscosity terms under the form of a fourth- and second-order derivative, respectively. An explicit four-stage Runge–Kutta integration algorithm is applied to obtain the steady-state condition. The computed results include the steady-state solution of flow past the NACA-hydrofoils and a circular cylinder in free stream, for which the numerical results are compared with numerical works of other researchers. Good agreement is observed. The effects of AC parameter, artificial viscosity and dissipation factor, and local preconditioning coefficient on convergence rate and solution accuracy are tested by computing flow over the NACA0012 hydrofoil. In addition, some important design criteria of a preconditioner, such as stiffness reduction, hyperbolicity, symmetrisability, accuracy preservation for M → 0, and M-property have been examined analytically.     

亚、跨、超音速及不可压流动的数值分析方法的研究

为了对亚、跨、超音速及不可压无粘流动进行数值模拟,将LU－SGS方法与预处理方法结合,给出了PLU－SGS方法。方程离散基于有限体积法,采用高阶精度AUSMPW格式。方程求解采用了特征边界条件。通过典型算例的数值试验对比分析,表明PLU－SGS方法可以有效地对亚、跨、超音速及不可压流动进行数值模拟,并具有较高的计算精度和收敛速度。     

Multiple pressure variables methods for fluid flow at all Mach numbers

In this paper we present a method for the simulation of incompressible as well as compressible unsteady flows. At first we discuss three different forms, i.e. a primitive‐, conservative‐ and a semi‐conservative form of the governing equations. We use a semi‐implicit time integration in such a fashion that the stability is guaranteed independently of the speed of sound and the resulting method is independent of the Mach number range. Moreover, with the application of the so‐called multiple pressure variables (MPV) approach the difficulties with the pressure term can be circumvented as in the incompressible limit the hydrodynamic pressure decouples from the equation of state. Increasing approximation errors in the low Mach number regime are avoided. As a result, the proposed algorithm can also simulate incompressible flows as limit for zero Mach number. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Continuous and discrete adjoint approaches for aerodynamic shape optimization with low Mach number preconditioning

Discrete and continuous adjoint approaches for use in aerodynamic shape optimization problems at all flow speeds are developed and assessed. They are based on the Navier–Stokes equations with low Mach number preconditioning. By alleviating the large disparity between acoustic waves and fluid speeds, the preconditioned flow and adjoint equations are numerically solved with affordable CPU cost, even at the so‐called incompressible flow conditions. Either by employing the adjoint to the preconditioned flow equations or by preconditioning the adjoint to the ‘standard’ flow equations (under certain conditions the two formulations become equivalent, as proved in this paper), efficient optimization methods with reasonable cost per optimization cycle, even at very low Mach numbers, are derived. During the mathematical development, a couple of assumptions are made which are proved to be harmless to the accuracy in the computed gradients and the effectiveness of the optimization method. The proposed approaches are validated in inviscid and viscous flows in external aerodynamics and turbomachinery flows at various Mach numbers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit preconditioned high‐order compact scheme for the simulation of the three‐dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with pseudo‐compressibility method

This paper combines the pseudo‐compressibility procedure, the preconditioning technique for accelerating the time marching for stiff hyperbolic equations, and high‐order accurate central compact scheme to establish the code for efficiently and accurately solving incompressible flows numerically based on the finite difference discretization. The spatial scheme consists of the sixth‐order compact scheme and 10th‐order numerical filter operator for guaranteeing computational stability. The preconditioned pseudo‐compressible Navier–Stokes equations are marched temporally using the implicit lower–upper symmetric Gauss–Seidel time integration method, and the time accuracy is improved by the dual‐time step method for the unsteady problems. The efficiency and reliability of the present procedure are demonstrated by applications to Taylor decaying vortices phenomena, double periodic shear layer rolling‐up problem, laminar flow over a flat plate, low Reynolds number unsteady flow around a circular cylinder at Re = 200, high Reynolds number turbulence flow past the S809 airfoil, and the three‐dimensional flows through two 90°curved ducts of square and circular cross sections, respectively. It is found that the numerical results of the present algorithm are in good agreement with theoretical solutions or experimental data. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GMRES physics-based preconditioner for all Reynolds and Mach numbers: numerical examples

This paper presents several numerical results using a vectorized version of a 3D finite element compressible and nearly incompressible Euler and Navier–Stokes code. The assumptions were set on laminar flows and Newtonian fluids. The goal of this research is to show the capabilities of the present code to treat a wide range of problems appearing in laminar fluid dynamics towards the unification from incompressible to compressible and from inviscid to viscous flow codes. Several authors with different approaches have tried to attain this target in CFD with relative success. At the beginning the methods based on operator splitting and perturbation were preferred, but lately, with the wide usage of time-marching algorithms, the preconditioning mass matrix (PMM) has become very popular. With this kind of relaxation scheme it is possible to accelerate the rate of convergence to steady state solutions with the modification of the mass matrix under certain restrictions. The selection of the mass matrix is not an easy task, but we have certain freedom to define it in order to improve the condition number of the system. In this paper we have used a physics-based preconditioner for the GMRES implicit solver developed previously by us and an SUPG formulation for the semidiscretization of the spatial operator. In sections 2 and 3 we present some theoretical aspects related to the physical problem and the mathematical model, showing the inviscid and viscous flow equations to be solved and the variational formulation involved in the finite element analysis. Section 4 deals with the numerical solution of non-linear systems of equations, with some emphasis on the preconditioned matrix-free GMRES solver. Section 5 shows how boundary conditions were treated for both Euler and Navier–Stokes problems. Section 6 contains some aspects about vectorization on the Cray C90. The performance reached by this implementation is close to 1 Gflop using multitasking. Section 7 presents several numerical examples for both models covering a wide range of interesting problems, such as inviscid low subsonic, transonic and supersonic regimes and viscous problems with interaction between boundary layers and shock waves in either attached or separated flows. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

微可压缩模型预处理技术研究

微可压缩模型(slightly compressible model,SCM)是求解低马赫数流动的一种有效模型, SCM在求解过程中不必满足速度散度为零的条件,可直接应用时间推进方法求解得到不可压缩N-S方程的解. 深入研究了该模型的效率和精度; 为了提高收敛速度将预处理技术引入到该模型中, 推导了预处理后的控制方程和特征系统, 并构造了预处理后的通量. 通过对圆柱绕流、方腔流动、NACA0012翼型和6:1椭球的数值模拟, 一方面, 进一步展示了SCM的可行性与健壮性, 表明SCM适合于低马赫流动的数值模拟; 另一方面, 充分验证了预处理技术在微可压缩模型中的作用, 一定程度上解决了低马赫数流动的收敛问题, 并提高了求解的准确性和精度. 这为SCM应用于工程实际创造了一定的条件.      

A preconditioning technique for steady Euler solutions

This paper presents a preconditioning technique for solving a two‐dimensional system of hyperbolic equations. The main attractive feature of this approach is that, unlike a technique based on simply extending the solver for a one‐dimensional hyperbolic system, convergence and stability analysis can be investigated. This method represents a genuine numerical algorithm for multi‐dimensional hyperbolic systems. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, applications to solving a two‐dimensional system of Euler equations in supersonic flows are reported. It is shown that the Lax–Friedrichs scheme diverges when applied to the original Euler equations. However, convergence is achieved when the same numerical scheme is employed using the same CFL number to solve the equivalent preconditioned Euler system. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of a preconditioned high‐order accurate artificial compressibility‐based incompressible flow solver in wide range of Reynolds numbers

In the present study, the preconditioned incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations with the artificial compressibility method formulated in the generalized curvilinear coordinates are numerically solved by using a high‐order compact finite‐difference scheme for accurately and efficiently computing the incompressible flows in a wide range of Reynolds numbers. A fourth‐order compact finite‐difference scheme is utilized to accurately discretize the spatial derivative terms of the governing equations, and the time integration is carried out based on the dual time‐stepping method. The capability of the proposed solution methodology for the computations of the steady and unsteady incompressible viscous flows from very low to high Reynolds numbers is investigated through the simulation of different 2‐dimensional benchmark problems, and the results obtained are compared with the existing analytical, numerical, and experimental data. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to evaluate the effects of the size of the computational domain and other numerical parameters on the accuracy and performance of the solution algorithm. The present solution procedure is also extended to 3 dimensions and applied for computing the incompressible flow over a sphere. Indications are that the application of the preconditioning in the solution algorithm together with the high‐order discretization method in the generalized curvilinear coordinates provides an accurate and robust solution method for simulating the incompressible flows over practical geometries in a wide range of Reynolds numbers including the creeping flows.     

A high‐order discontinuous Galerkin method for all‐speed flows

In this article, we present a discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of steady solutions of the compressible fully coupled Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes and k ? ω turbulence model equations for solving all‐speed flows. The system of equations is iterated to steady state by means of an implicit scheme. The DG solution is extended to the incompressible limit by implementing a low Mach number preconditioning technique. A full preconditioning approach is adopted, which modifies both the unsteady terms of the governing equations and the dissipative term of the numerical flux function by means of a new preconditioner, on the basis of a modified version of Turkel's preconditioning matrix. At sonic speed the preconditioner reduces to the identity matrix thus recovering the non‐preconditioned DG discretization. An artificial viscosity term is added to the DG discretized equations to stabilize the solution in the presence of shocks when piecewise approximations of order of accuracy higher than 1 are used. Moreover, several rescaling techniques are implemented in order to overcome ill‐conditioning problems that, in addition to the low Mach number stiffness, can limit the performance of the flow solver. These approaches, through a proper manipulation of the governing equations, reduce unbalances between residuals as a result of the dependence on the size of elements in the computational mesh and because of the inherent differences between turbulent and mean‐flow variables, influencing both the evolution of the Courant Friedrichs Lewy (CFL) number and the inexact solution of the linear systems. The performance of the method is demonstrated by solving three turbulent aerodynamic test cases: the flat plate, the L1T2 high‐lift configuration and the RAE2822 airfoil (Case 9). The computations are performed at different Mach numbers using various degrees of polynomial approximations to analyze the influence of the proposed numerical strategies on the accuracy, efficiency and robustness of a high‐order DG solver at different flow regimes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An implicit high-order preconditioned flux reconstruction method for low-Mach-number flow simulation with dynamic meshes

A fully implicit high-order preconditioned flux reconstruction/correction procedure via reconstruction (FR/CPR) method is developed to solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equations at low Mach numbers. A dual-time stepping approach with the second-order backward differentiation formula (BDF2) is employed to ensure temporal accuracy for unsteady flow simulation. When dynamic meshes are used to handle moving/deforming domains, the geometric conservation law is implicitly enforced to eliminate errors due to the resolution discrepancy between BDF2 and the spatial FR/CPR discretization. The large linear system resulted from the spatial and temporal discretizations is tackled with the restarted generalized minimal residual solver in the PETSc (portable, extensible toolkit for scientific computation) library. Through several benchmark steady and unsteady numerical tests, the preconditioned FR/CPR methods have demonstrated good convergence and accuracy for simulating flows at low Mach numbers. The new flow solver is then used to study the effects of Mach number on unsteady force generation over a plunging airfoil when operating in low-Mach-number flows. It is observed that weak compressibility has a significant impact on thrust generation but has a negligible effect on lift generation of an oscillating airfoil.     

On Slightly Compressible Ideal Flow¶in the Half-Plane

We consider the Euler equations of barotropic inviscid compressible fluids in the half-plane. It is well known that, as the Mach number goes to zero, the compressible flows approximate the solution of the equations of motion of inviscid, incompressible fluids. In 2D (two dimensions) such limit solution exists on any arbitrary time interval, with no restriction on the size of the initial data. It is then natural to expect the same for the compressible solution, if the Mach number is sufficiently small. We decompose the solution as the sum of the irrotational part, the incompressible part and the remainder, which describes the interaction between the first two components. First we study the life span of smooth irrotational solutions, i.e., the largest time interval T(?) of existence of classical solutions, when the initial data are a small perturbation of size ? from a constant state. Related to this is a decay property for the irrotational part. Then, we study the interaction between the two components and show the existence on any arbitrary time interval, for any Mach number sufficiently small. This yields the existence of smooth compressible flow on any arbitrary time interval. For the proofs we use a combination of energy and decay estimates.     

Ideal gas flows with separation zones and time-dependent contact discontinuities of complicated shape

Some examples of flows with separation zones andmovable contact discontinuities obtained as a result of the numerical integration of the time-dependent equations for an ideal gas are presented. The examples concern a steady annular separation zone on the blunt nose of a body in a supersonic flow, periodic shedding of unsteady discontinuities from a cylinder in a steady uniform subsonic flow with a supercritical Mach number, and the complicated deformation of a contact (tangential) discontinuity, namely, the boundaries of a two-dimensional jet, either subsonic or supersonic, flowing into a cocurrent subsonic low-velocity flow. A multiple increase in the difference grid capacity in the numerical integration of the Euler equations indicates the absence of a noticeable scheme viscosity effect in the examples calculated. The inviscid nature of the separation flows obtained is also confirmed by their well-known counterparts constructed in the ideal incompressible fluid approximation. The time-average velocity fields of the two-dimensional jet and the intensity of its sound field are in reasonable agreement with the available data.     

Improving Euler Computations at Low Mach Numbers

Abstract

This paper consists of two parts, both dealing with conditioning techniques for low-Mach-number Euler-flow computations, in which a multigrid technique is applied

In the first part, for subsonic flows and upwind-discretized linearized 1-D Euler equations, the smoothing behavior of multigrid-accelerated point Gauss-Seidel relaxation is investigated. Error decay by convection over domain boundaries is also discussed. A fix to poor convergence rates at low Mach numbers is sought by replacing the point relaxation applied to unconditioned Euler equations by locally implicit “time” stepping applied to preconditioned Euler equations. The locally implicit iteration step is optimized for good damping of high-frequency errors. Numerical inaccuracy at low Mach numbers is also addressed. In the present case it is not necessary to solve this accuracy problem

In the second part, insight is given into the conditions of derivative matrices to be inverted in point-relaxation methods for 1-D and 2-D, upwind-discretized Euler equations. Speed regimes are found where ill-conditioning of these matrices occurs, and 1-D flow equations appear to be less well-conditioned than 2-D flow equations. Fixes to the ill-conditioning follow more or less directly, when thinking of adding regularizing matrices to the ill-conditioned derivative matrices. A smoothing analysis is made of point Gauss-Seidel relaxation applied to discrete Euler equations conditioned by such an additive matrix. The method is successfully applied to a very low-subsonic,     

A finite element method for compressible viscous fluid flows

This work presents a mixed three‐dimensional finite element formulation for analyzing compressible viscous flows. The formulation is based on the primitive variables velocity, density, temperature and pressure. The goal of this work is to present a ‘stable’ numerical formulation, and, thus, the interpolation functions for the field variables are chosen so as to satisfy the inf–sup conditions. An exact tangent stiffness matrix is derived for the formulation, which ensures a quadratic rate of convergence. The good performance of the proposed strategy is shown in a number of steady‐state and transient problems where compressibility effects are important such as high Mach number flows, natural convection, Riemann problems, etc., and also on problems where the fluid can be treated as almost incompressible. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of low Mach number models for natural convection problems

 We investigate in this paper two numerical methods for solving low Mach number compressible flows and their application to single-phase natural convection flow problems. The first method is based on an asymptotic model of the Navier–Stokes equations valid for small Mach numbers, whereas the second is based on the full compressible Navier–Stokes equations with particular care given to the discretization at low Mach numbers. These models are more general than the Boussinesq incompressible flow model, in the sense that they are valid even for cases in which the fluid is subjected to large temperature differences, that is when the compressibility of the fluid manifests itself through low Mach number effects. Numerical solutions are computed for a series of test problems with fixed Rayleigh number and increasing temperature differences, as well as for varying Rayleigh number for a given temperature difference. Numerical difficulties associated with low Mach number effects are discussed, as well as the accuracy of the approximations. Received on 17 January 2000