A finite volume cell‐centered Lagrangian hydrodynamics approach for solids in general unstructured grids

A finite volume cell‐centered Lagrangian hydrodynamics approach, formulated in Cartesian frame, is presented for solving elasto‐plastic response of solids in general unstructured grids. Because solid materials can sustain significant shear deformation, evolution equations for stress and strain fields are solved in addition to mass, momentum, and energy conservation laws. The total stress is split into deviatoric shear stress and dilatational components. The dilatational response of the material is modeled using the Mie‐Grüneisen equation of state. A predicted trial elastic deviatoric stress state is evolved assuming a pure elastic deformation in accordance with the hypo‐elastic stress‐strain relation. The evolution equations are advanced in time by constructing vertex velocity and corner traction force vectors using multi‐dimensional Riemann solutions erected at mesh vertices. Conservation of momentum and total energy along with the increase in entropy principle are invoked for computing these quantities at the vertices. Final state of deviatoric stress is effected via radial return algorithm based on the J‐2 von Mises yield condition. The scheme presented in this work is second‐order accurate both in space and time. The suitability of the scheme is evinced by solving one‐ and two‐dimensional benchmark problems both in structured grids and in unstructured grids with polygonal cells. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consistent discretization for simulations of flows with moving generalized curvilinear coordinates

We develop a consistent discretization of conservative momentum and scalar transport for the numerical simulation of flow using a generalized moving curvilinear coordinate system. The formulation guarantees consistency between the discrete transport equation and the discrete mass conservation equation due to grid motion. This enables simulation of conservative transport using generalized curvilinear grids that move arbitrarily in three dimensions while maintaining the desired properties of the discrete transport equation on a stationary grid, such as constancy, conservation, and monotonicity. In addition to guaranteeing consistency for momentum and scalar transport, the formulation ensures geometric conservation and maintains the desired high‐order time accuracy of the discretization on a moving grid. Through numerical examples we show that, when the computation is carried out on a moving grid, consistency between the discretized scalar advection equation and the discretized equation for flow mass conservation due to grid motion is required in order to obtain stable and accurate results. We also demonstrate that significant errors can result when non‐consistent discretizations are employed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fully conservative high‐order upwind multi‐moment method using moments in both upwind and downwind cells

We propose a fully conservative high‐order upwind multi‐moment method for the conservation equation. The proposed method is based on a third‐order polynomial interpolation function and semi‐Lagrangian formulation and is a variant of the constrained interpolation profile conservative semi‐Lagrangian scheme with third‐order polynomial function method. The third‐order interpolation function is constructed based on three constraints in the upwind cell (two boundary values and a cell average) and a constraint in the downwind cell (a cell center value). The proposed method shows fourth‐order accuracy in a benchmark problem (sine wave propagation). We also propose a less oscillatory formulation of the proposed method. The less oscillatory formulation can minimize numerical oscillations. These methods were validated through scalar transport problems, and compressible flow problems (shock tube and 2D explosion problems). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical analysis of conservative unstructured discretisations for low Mach flows

Unstructured meshes allow easily representing complex geometries and to refine in regions of interest without adding control volumes in unnecessary regions. However, numerical schemes used on unstructured grids have to be properly defined in order to minimise numerical errors. An assessment of a low Mach algorithm for laminar and turbulent flows on unstructured meshes using collocated and staggered formulations is presented. For staggered formulations using cell‐centred velocity reconstructions, the standard first‐order method is shown to be inaccurate in low Mach flows on unstructured grids. A recently proposed least squares procedure for incompressible flows is extended to the low Mach regime and shown to significantly improve the behaviour of the algorithm. Regarding collocated discretisations, the odd–even pressure decoupling is handled through a kinetic energy conserving flux interpolation scheme. This approach is shown to efficiently handle variable‐density flows. Besides, different face interpolations schemes for unstructured meshes are analysed. A kinetic energy‐preserving scheme is applied to the momentum equations, namely, the symmetry‐preserving scheme. Furthermore, a new approach to define the far‐neighbouring nodes of the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics scheme is presented and analysed. The method is suitable for both structured and unstructured grids, either uniform or not. The proposed algorithm and the spatial schemes are assessed against a function reconstruction, a differentially heated cavity and a turbulent self‐igniting diffusion flame. It is shown that the proposed algorithm accurately represents unsteady variable‐density flows. Furthermore, the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics scheme shows close to second‐order behaviour on unstructured meshes, and the symmetry‐preserving is reliably used in all computations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A formally second‐order cell centred scheme for convection–diffusion equations on general grids

We propose, in this paper, a finite volume scheme to compute the solution of the convection–diffusion equation on unstructured and possibly non‐conforming grids. The diffusive fluxes are approximated using the recently published SUSHI scheme in its cell centred version, that reaches a second‐order spatial convergence rate for the Laplace equation on any unstructured two‐dimensional/three‐dimensional grids. As in the MUSCL method, the numerical convective fluxes are built with a prediction‐limitation process, which ensures that the discrete maximum principle is satisfied for pure convection problems. The limitation does not involve any geometrical reconstruction, thus allowing the use of completely general grids, in any space dimension. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accurate and consistent particle tracking on unstructured grids

A new numerical method for particle tracking (Lagrangian particle advection) on 2‐D unstructured grids with triangular cells is presented and tested. This method combines key attributes of published methods, including streamline closure for steady flows and local mass conservation (uniformity preservation). The subgrid‐scale velocity reconstruction is linear, and this linear velocity field is integrated analytically to obtain particle trajectories. A complete analytic solution to the 2‐D system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) governing particle trajectories within a grid cell is provided. The analytic solution to the linear system of locally mass‐conserving constraints that must be enforced to obtain the coefficients in the ODEs is also provided. Numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate that the new method has substantial advantages in accuracy over previously published methods and that it does not suffer from unphysical particle clustering. The method can be used not only in particle‐tracking applications but also as part of a semi‐Lagrangian advection scheme.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contradiction between the C‐property and mass conservation in adaptive grid based shallow flow models: cause and solution

When performing shallow flow simulations on adaptive grids, the C‐property (i.e. conservation property) and the mass conservation may not be simultaneously preserved, that is, either C‐property or mass conservation is likely to be violated following grid refining or coarsening. The cause of such a contradiction is analyzed in detail in this work, which essentially links to the reconstruction of bed and flow information in those newly created cells during grid adaptation. An effective approach is subsequently proposed to resolve the contradiction by locally modifying the bed elevation in certain problematic cells when reconstructing flow information using linear interpolation as part of the grid adaptation procedure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An unstructured finite‐volume method for coupled models of suspended sediment and bed load transport in shallow‐water flows

The aim of this work is to develop a well‐balanced finite‐volume method for the accurate numerical solution of the equations governing suspended sediment and bed load transport in two‐dimensional shallow‐water flows. The modelling system consists of three coupled model components: (i) the shallow‐water equations for the hydrodynamical model; (ii) a transport equation for the dispersion of suspended sediments; and (iii) an Exner equation for the morphodynamics. These coupled models form a hyperbolic system of conservation laws with source terms. The proposed finite‐volume method consists of a predictor stage for the discretization of gradient terms and a corrector stage for the treatment of source terms. The gradient fluxes are discretized using a modified Roe's scheme using the sign of the Jacobian matrix in the coupled system. A well‐balanced discretization is used for the treatment of source terms. In this paper, we also employ an adaptive procedure in the finite‐volume method by monitoring the concentration of suspended sediments in the computational domain during its transport process. The method uses unstructured meshes and incorporates upwinded numerical fluxes and slope limiters to provide sharp resolution of steep sediment concentrations and bed load gradients that may form in the approximate solutions. Details are given on the implementation of the method, and numerical results are presented for two idealized test cases, which demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the method and its applicability in predicting dam‐break flows over erodible sediment beds. The method is also applied to a sediment transport problem in the Nador lagoon.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical diffusion for flow‐aligned unstructured grids with application to estuarine modeling

The benefits of unstructured grids in hydrodynamic models are well understood but in many cases lead to greater numerical diffusion compared with methods available on structured grids. The flexible nature of unstructured grids, however, allows for the orientation of the grid to align locally with the dominant flow direction and thus decrease numerical diffusion. We investigate the relationship between grid alignment and diffusive errors in the context of scalar transport in a triangular, unstructured, 3‐D hydrodynamic code. Analytical results are presented for the 2‐D anisotropic numerical diffusion tensor and verified against idealized simulations. Results from two physically realistic estuarine simulations, differing only in grid alignment, show significant changes in gradients of salinity. Changes in scalar gradients are reflective of reduced numerical diffusion interacting with the complex 3‐D structure of the transporting flow. We also describe a method for utilizing flow fields from an unaligned grid to generate a flow‐aligned grid with minimal supervision. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unstructured lattice Boltzmann method in three dimensions

Over the last decade, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has evolved into a valuable alternative to continuum computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods for the numerical simulation of several complex fluid‐dynamic problems. Recent advances in lattice Boltzmann research have considerably extended the capability of LBM to handle complex geometries. Among these, a particularly remarkable option is represented by cell‐vertex finite‐volume formulations which permit LBM to operate on fully unstructured grids. The two‐dimensional implementation of unstructured LBM, based on the use of triangular elements, has shown capability of tolerating significant grid distortions without suffering any appreciable numerical viscosity effects, to second‐order in the mesh size. In this work, we present the first three‐dimensional generalization of the unstructured lattice Boltzmann technique (ULBE as unstructured lattice Boltzmann equation), in which geometrical flexibility is achieved by coarse‐graining the lattice Boltzmann equation in differential form, using tetrahedrical grids. This 3D extension is demonstrated for the case of 3D pipe flow and moderate Reynolds numbers flow past a sphere. The results provide evidence that the ULBE has significant potential for the accurate calculation of flows in complex 3D geometries. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional modeling of non‐hydrostatic free‐surface flows on unstructured grids

A three‐dimensional numerical model is presented for the simulation of unsteady non‐hydrostatic shallow water flows on unstructured grids using the finite volume method. The free surface variations are modeled by a characteristics‐based scheme, which simulates sub‐critical and super‐critical flows. Three‐dimensional velocity components are considered in a collocated arrangement with a σ‐coordinate system. A special treatment of the pressure term is developed to avoid the water surface oscillations. Convective and diffusive terms are approximated explicitly, and an implicit discretization is used for the pressure term to ensure exact mass conservation. The unstructured grid in the horizontal direction and the σ coordinate in the vertical direction facilitate the use of the model in complicated geometries. Solution of the non‐hydrostatic equations enables the model to simulate short‐period waves and vertically circulating flows. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A family of multi‐point flux approximation schemes for general element types in two and three dimensions with convergence performance

A family of flux‐continuous, locally conservative, control‐volume‐distributed multi‐point flux approximation (CVD‐MPFA) schemes has been developed for solving the general geometry‐permeability tensor pressure equation on structured and unstructured grids. These schemes are applicable to the full‐tensor pressure equation with generally discontinuous coefficients and remove the O(1) errors introduced by standard reservoir simulation schemes when applied to full‐tensor flow approximation. The family of flux‐continuous schemes is characterized by a quadrature parameterization. Improved numerical convergence for the family of CVD‐MPFA schemes using the quadrature parameterization has been observed for structured and unstructured grids in two dimensions. The CVD‐MPFA family cell‐vertex formulation is extended to classical general element types in 3‐D including prisms, pyramids, hexahedra and tetrahedra. A numerical convergence study of the CVD‐MPFA schemes on general unstructured grids comprising of triangular elements in 2‐D and prismatic, pyramidal, hexahedral and tetrahedral shape elements in 3‐D is presented. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of single‐ and two‐phase flows on sliding unstructured meshes using finite volume method

The paper presents an efficient finite volume method for unstructured grids with rotating sliding parts composed of arbitrary polyhedral elements for both single‐ and two‐phase flows. Mathematical model used in computations is based on the ensemble averaged conservation equations. These equations are solved for each phase and in case of single‐phase flow reduce to the transient Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes (TRANS) equations. Transient flow induced by rotating impellers is thus resolved in time. The use of unstructured grids allows an easy and flexible meshing for the entire flow domain. Polyhedral cell volumes are created on the arbitrary mesh interface placed between rotating and static parts. Cells within the rotating parts move each time step and the new faces are created on the arbitrary interfaces only, while the rest of the domain remain ‘topologically’ unchanged. Implicit discretization scheme allows a wide range of time‐step sizes, which further reduce the computational effort. Special attention is given to the interpolation practices used for the reconstruction of the face quantities. Mass fluxes are recalculated at the beginning of each time step by using an interpolation scheme, which enhances the coupling between the pressure and velocity fields. The model has been implemented into the commercially available CFD code AVL SWIFT (AVL AST, SWIFT Manual 3.1, AVL List GmbH, Graz, Austria, 2002). Single‐phase flow in a mixing vessel stirred by a six‐bladed Rushton‐type turbine and two‐phase flow in aerated stirred vessel with the four‐blade Rushton impeller are simulated. The results are compared with the available experimental data, and good agreement is observed. The proposed algorithm is proved to be both stable and accurate for single‐phase as well as for the two‐phase flows calculations. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new TVD method for advection simulation on 2D unstructured grids

For advection schemes with flux limiters derived on one‐dimensional grids to two‐dimensional (2D) unstructured triangular ones. In this method, the variables located normal to this face are taken into more account to compute the flux, by means of defining required nodes along the line through the center point of the considered face and perpendicular to it. Besides, the new method adopts the improved total variation diminishing schemes in, which consider the face position between the two neighboring cells as well as the size differences of the related cells; therefore, it fits 2D unstructured grids well. Compared with the present flux limiting methods for 2D unstructured grids, a higher accuracy and efficiency and a good monotonicity are achieved by the new method.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Algebraic multigrid and incompressible fluid flow

This paper is concerned with the development of algebraic multigrid (AMG) solution methods for the coupled vector–scalar fields of incompressible fluid flow. It addresses in particular the problems of unstable smoothing and of maintaining good vector–scalar coupling in the AMG coarse‐grid approximations. Two different approaches have been adopted. The first is a direct approach based on a second‐order discrete‐difference formulation in primitive variables. Here smoothing is stabilized using a minimum residual control harness and velocity–pressure coupling is maintained by employing a special interpolation during the construction of the inter‐grid transfer operators. The second is an indirect approach that avoids the coupling problem altogether by using a fourth‐order discrete‐difference formulation in a single scalar‐field variable, primitive variables being recovered in post‐processing steps. In both approaches the discrete‐difference equations are for the steady‐state limit (infinite time step) with a fully implicit treatment of advection based on central differencing using uniform and non‐uniform unstructured meshes. They are solved by Picard iteration, the AMG solvers being used repeatedly for each linear approximation. Both classical AMG (C‐AMG) and smoothed‐aggregation AMG (SA‐AMG) are used. In the direct approach, the SA‐AMG solver (with inter‐grid transfer operators based on mixed‐order interpolation) provides an almost mesh‐independent convergence. In the indirect approach for uniform meshes, the C‐AMG solver (based on a Jacobi‐relaxed interpolation) provides solutions with an optimum scaling of the convergence rates. For non‐uniform meshes this convergence becomes mesh dependent but the overall solution cost increases relatively slowly with increasing mesh bandwidth. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improvement of classical slope limiters for high‐order discontinuous Galerkin method

In this paper, we describe some existing slope limiters (Cockburn and Shu's slope limiter and Hoteit's slope limiter) for the two‐dimensional Runge–Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method on arbitrary unstructured triangular grids. We describe the strategies for detecting discontinuities and for limiting spurious oscillations near such discontinuities, when solving hyperbolic systems of conservation laws by high‐order discontinuous Galerkin methods. The disadvantage of these slope limiters is that they depend on a positive constant, which is, for specific hydraulic problems, difficult to estimate in order to eliminate oscillations near discontinuities without decreasing the high‐order accuracy of the scheme in the smooth regions. We introduce the idea of a simple modification of Cockburn and Shu's slope limiter to avoid the use of this constant number. This modification consists in: slopes are limited so that the solution at the integration points is in the range spanned by the neighboring solution averages. Numerical results are presented for a nonlinear system: the shallow water equations. Four hydraulic problems of discontinuous solutions of two‐dimensional shallow water are presented. The idealized dam break problem, the oblique hydraulic jump problem, flow in a channel with concave bed and the dam break problem in a converging–diverging channel are solved by using the different slope limiters. Numerical comparisons on unstructured meshes show a superior accuracy with the modified slope limiter. Moreover, it does not require the choice of any constant number for the limiter condition. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of discontinuous Galerkin and spectral volume methods for scalar and system conservation laws on unstructured grids

The discontinuous Galerkin (DG) and spectral volume (SV) methods are two recently developed high‐order methods for hyperbolic conservation laws capable of handling unstructured grids. In this paper, their overall performance in terms of efficiency, accuracy and memory requirement is evaluated using a 2D scalar conservation laws and the 2D Euler equations. To measure their accuracy, problems with analytical solutions are used. Both methods are also used to solve problems with strong discontinuities to test their ability in discontinuity capturing. Both the DG and SV methods are capable of achieving their formal order of accuracy while the DG method has a lower error magnitude and takes more memory. They are also similar in efficiency. The SV method appears to have a higher resolution for discontinuities because the data limiting can be done at the sub‐element level. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A three‐dimensional hydrodynamic model for shallow waters using unstructured Cartesian grids

This paper presents a three‐dimensional unstructured Cartesian grid model for simulating shallow water hydrodynamics in lakes, rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters. It is a flux‐based finite difference model that uses a cut‐cell approach to fit the bottom topography and shorelines and, at the same time, has the flexibility of discretizing complex geometries with Cartesian grids that can be arbitrarily downsized in the two horizontal directions simultaneously. Because of the use of Cartesian grids, the grid generation is very simple and does not suffer the grid generation headache often seen in many other unstructured models, as the unstructured Cartesian grid model does not have any requirements on the orthogonality of the grids. The newly developed unstructured Cartesian grid model was validated against analytical solutions for a three‐dimensional seiching case in a rectangular basin, before it was compared with another three‐dimensional model named LESS3D for circulations and salinity transport processes in an idealized embayment that is driven by tides and freshwater inflows. Model tests show that the numerical procedure used in the unstructured Cartesian grid model is robust. Similar to other unstructured models, a variable grid size has resulted in a smaller number of grids required for a reasonable model simulation, which in turn reduces the CPU time used in the model run. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Mach‐uniform unstructured staggered grid method

A novel Mach‐uniform method to compute flows using unstructured staggered grids is discussed. The Mach‐uniform method is a generalization of the pressure‐correction approach for incompressible flows, and is valid for Mach numbers ranging from 0 (incompressible) to > 1 (supersonic). The primary variables (ρ u ,p and ρ) are updated sequentially. The grid consists of triangles. A staggered positioning of the variables is employed: the scalar variables are located at the centroids of the triangles, whereas the normal momentum components are positioned at the midpoints of the faces of the triangles. Discretization of the two‐dimensional flow equations on unstructured staggered grids is discussed. For the cell face fluxes there is a choice between first‐order upwind and central approximation. Flows around the NACA 0012 airfoil with freestream Mach numbers ranging from 0 to 1.2 are computed to demonstrate the Mach‐uniform accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.