Numerical investigation of BB-AMR scheme using entropy production as refinement criterion

In this work, a parallel finite volume scheme on unstructured meshes is applied to fluid flow for multidimensional hyperbolic system of conservation laws. It is based on a block-based adaptive mesh refinement strategy which allows quick meshing and easy parallelisation. As a continuation and as an extension of a previous work, the useful numerical density of entropy production is used as mesh refinement criterion combined with a local time-stepping method to preserve the computational time. Then, we numerically investigate its efficiency through several test cases with a confrontation with exact solution or experimental data.     

A coupled Timoshenko model for smart slender structures

In this paper, a generalized Timoshenko model has been developed for prismatic, beam-like slender structures with embedded or surface mounted piezoelectric type smart materials. Starting from a geometrically exact formulation of the original, three-dimensional electromechanical problem, we apply the variational asymptotic method to carry out a systematic dimensional reduction. In the process, the three-dimensional electromechanical enthalpy functional is approximated asymptotically using the slenderness as the small parameter to find out an equivalent one-dimensional electromechanical enthalpy functional. For Timoshenko-like refinement over the Euler–Bernoulli beam model, terms up to the second order of the slenderness are kept in the enthalpy expression. As an unified analysis tool, the present model can analyze embedded or surface mounted active layer with arbitrary cross-sectional geometry as two cases of a general one, no special assumptions or modifications need to be made for these two separate types of active inclusions.     

Numerical determination of initial and subsequent yield surfaces of open-celled model foams

In the present work, the overall yield behaviour of a three-dimensional model foam is investigated by microstructural modeling and numerical homogenisation. The analyses are performed on an elasto-plastic lattice of tetrakaidecahedral cells which provides a surrogate model for metallic foams with open cells. For the determination of the macroscopic yield surfaces in strain space as well as in stress space, a strain-energy based homogenisation scheme is applied to a representative volume element. This scheme is derived directly from the Hill principle and thus assures the physical consistency with mechanically defined effective properties in a natural manner. By tracing the evolution of the overall yield surface, the different hardening mechanisms are addressed. It is found that for complex load histories the yield surfaces are not only shifted but may also change their shape and size considerably.     

Adaptive grid computation of three-dimensional natural convection in horizontal high-pressure mercury lamps

A three-dimensional model has been developed to compute the thermofluid transport within a discharge arctube. The model has proved very useful for guiding the choice of design parameters to optimize the lamp performance. However, uncertainties exist with respect to quantitative aspects of the physical model, especially those related to radiation heat transfer. In the present work a grid refinement procedure and an adaptive grid method are used to improve the quantitative accuracy of the model and to help improve the physical modelling. The adaptive grid method, based on the multiple one-dimensional equidistribution concept, can responsively redistribute the grids to optimize the grid resolutions. Adaptive grid solutions modify the predicted maximum gas temperature, the buoyancy-induced convection strength, the location of the high-temperature core, and the wall temperature profiles. The adaptive grid solutions show more consistent trends when compared to the measurements. On the basis of the quantitatively more definite information, adjustments can be made with regard to the uncertainties of the physical model.     

An unstructured finite element model for incompressible two-phase flow based on a monolithic conservative level set method

We present a robust numerical method for solving incompressible, immiscible two-phase flows. The method extends both a monolithic phase conservative level set method with embedded redistancing and a semi-implicit high-order projection scheme for variable-density flows. The level set method can be initialized conveniently via a simple phase indicator field instead of a signed distance function (SDF). To process the indicator field into a SDF, we propose a new partial differential equation-based redistancing method. We also improve the monolithic level set scheme to provide more accuracy and robustness in full two-phase flow simulations. Specifically, we perform an extra step to ensure convergence to the signed distance level set function and simplify other aspects of the original scheme. Lastly, we introduce consistent artificial viscosity to stabilize the momentum equations in the context of the projection scheme. This stabilization is algebraic, has no tunable parameters and is suitable for unstructured meshes and arbitrary refinement levels. The overall methodology includes few numerical tuning parameters; however, for the wide range of problems that we solve, we identify only one parameter that strongly affects performance of the computational model and provide a value that provides accurate results across all the benchmarks presented. This methodology results in a robust, accurate, and efficient two-phase flow model, which is mass- and volume-conserving on unstructured meshes and has low user input requirements, making it attractive for real-world applications.     

Efficient reconstruction of local heat fluxes in pool boiling experiments by goal-oriented adaptive mesh refinement

In this paper, we consider the efficient estimation of local boiling heat fluxes from transient temperature measurements in the heater close to the heater surface. For accurate prediction, heat flux estimation is formulated as a transient three-dimensional (3D) inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP). This inverse problem is ill-posed and cannot be treated straightforwardly by established numerical methods. In order to obtain a regularized stable solution, a large-scale time-dependent PDE-constrained optimization problem has to be solved and an appropriate stopping criterion for the termination of the iterative solution process has to be chosen. Since the boiling heat flux is non-uniformly distributed on the heater surface due to the strong local activity of the boiling process, the use of a fixed uniform spatial discretization is not efficient. Instead, an adaptive mesh refinement strategy can be used to obtain an appropriate discretization which significantly reduces the total computational effort. In this work, we present an automatic algorithm incorporating an adaptive mesh refinement via a heat flux-based a-posteriori error estimation technique. The suggested algorithm can cope with both spatially point-wise or highly resolved temperature observations efficiently. It is applied to real measurement data obtained from two different types of pool boiling experiments. The numerical results show that the computational effort can be reduced significantly for given estimation quality. This adaptive IHCP solution technique can be also viewed as an efficient soft sensor to deduce unmeasurable local boiling heat fluxes.     

Spatial accuracy and performance of a mixed‐order,explicit multi‐stage method for unsteady flows

We assess the spatial accuracy and performance of a mixed‐order, explicit multi‐stage method in which an inexpensive low‐order scheme is used for the initial stages, and a more expensive high‐order scheme is used for the final stage only. Compared with the use of a high‐order scheme for all stages, we observe that the mixed‐order scheme achieves comparable accuracy and convergence while providing a speed‐up of a factor of two on mesh sizes of O(10⁶ ? 10⁷) tetrahedron. For calculations with significant adaptive mesh refinement, a more modest speed‐up of 30% is obtained. Published 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

The direct simulation Monte Carlo method using unstructured adaptive mesh and its application

The implementation of an adaptive mesh‐embedding (h‐refinement) scheme using unstructured grid in two‐dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is reported. In this technique, local isotropic refinement is used to introduce new mesh where the local cell Knudsen number is less than some preset value. This simple scheme, however, has several severe consequences affecting the performance of the DSMC method. Thus, we have applied a technique to remove the hanging node, by introducing the an‐isotropic refinement in the interfacial cells between refined and non‐refined cells. Not only does this remedy increase a negligible amount of work, but it also removes all the difficulties presented in the originals scheme. We have tested the proposed scheme for argon gas in a high‐speed driven cavity flow. The results show an improved flow resolution as compared with that of un‐adaptive mesh. Finally, we have used triangular adaptive mesh to compute a near‐continuum gas flow, a hypersonic flow over a cylinder. The results show fairly good agreement with previous studies. In summary, the proposed simple mesh adaptation is very useful in computing rarefied gas flows, which involve both complicated geometry and highly non‐uniform density variations throughout the flow field. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simplex space-time meshes in compressible flow simulations

Employing simplex space-time meshes enlarges the scope of compressible flow simulations. The simultaneous discretization of space and time with simplex elements extends the flexibility of unstructured meshes from space to time. In this work, we adapt a finite element formulation for compressible flows to simplex space-time meshes. The method obtained allows, for example, flow simulation on spatial domains that change topology with time. We demonstrate this with the two-dimensional simulation of compressible flow in a valve that fully closes and opens again. Furthermore, simplex space-time meshes facilitate local temporal refinement. A three-dimensional transient simulation of blow-by past piston rings is run in parallel on 120 cores. The timings point out savings of computation time gained from local temporal refinement in four-dimensional space-time meshes.     

A 5‐equation,transient, hyperbolic, 1‐dimensional model for slug capturing in pipes

A novel numerical scheme for slug capturing in pipes using a 1‐dimensional transient hyperbolic 5‐equation 2‐fluid model is presented. Previous work has shown that 1‐dimensional 2‐fluid models are able to capture slug flow automatically. In this work, a similar approach is further developed using a new numerical scheme, applied to a hyperbolic 5‐equation 2‐fluid model. Starting from a finite volume discretisation of a 5‐equation 2‐fluid hyperbolic model and adding appropriate closure relations, a second‐order code is implemented and applied to air‐water flows in horizontal pipes, simulating the 2‐phase to 1‐phase flow process. The code is evaluated in some common standard test cases. A slug capturing application is also discussed. We show, in an air/water horizontal pipe, slug initiation, growth, and development. Moreover, a grid refinement analysis is performed showing that the method is grid independent and we show the code capability to take into account eventual surface tension effects, through the instantaneous pressure relaxation process. Finally, a prediction of flow regime transitions is shown and compared with a well‐known theoretical flow pattern map in addition to a preliminary comparison of computed slug characteristics against well‐known empirical correlations.     

Modeling of Turbulent Natural Convection in Enclosed Tall Cavities

It was shown in our previous work (J. Appl. Mech. Tech. Phys 57 (7), 1159–1171 (2016)) that the eddy-resolving parameter-free CABARET scheme as applied to two-and three-dimensional de Vahl Davis benchmark tests (thermal convection in a square cavity) yields numerical results on coarse (20 × 20 and 20 × 20 × 20) grids that agree surprisingly well with experimental data and highly accurate computations for Rayleigh numbers of up to 10¹⁴. In the present paper, the sensitivity of this phenomenon to the cavity shape (varying from cubical to highly elongated) is analyzed. Box-shaped computational domains with aspect ratios of 1: 4, 1: 10, and 1: 28.6 are considered. The results produced by the CABARET scheme are compared with experimental data (aspect ratio of 1: 28.6), DNS results (aspect ratio of 1: 4), and an empirical formula (aspect ratio of 1: 10). In all the cases, the CABARET-based integral parameters of the cavity flow agree well with the other authors’ results. Notably coarse grids with mesh refinement toward the walls are used in the CABARET calculations. It is shown that acceptable numerical accuracy on extremely coarse grids is achieved for an aspect ratio of up to 1: 10. For higher aspect ratios, the number of grid cells required for achieving prescribed accuracy grows significantly.     

Viscoelastic flows studied by smoothed particle dynamics

A viscoelastic numerical scheme based on smoothed particle dynamics is presented. The concept goes a step beyond smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) which is a grid-free Lagrangian method describing the flow by fluid-pseudo-particles. The relevant properties are interpolated directly on the resulting movable grid. In this work, the effect of viscoelasticity is incorporated into the ordinary conservation laws by a differential constitutive equation supplied for the stress tensor. In order to give confidence in the methodology we explicitly consider the non-stationary simple corotational Maxwell model in a channel geometry. Without further developments the scheme is applicable to ‘realistic’ models relevant for three-dimensional (3D) viscoelastic flows in complex geometries.     

Boiling flow simulations on adaptive octree grids

Boiling flow simulations are conducted on adaptive octree grids. A phase change model consistent with the mixture formulation, in conjunction with the Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) model, is used to track the liquid–vapor interface. Test cases including Rayleigh Taylor instability and bubble growth in a uniform superheat are conducted to validate the phase change model on adaptive grids. The validated model is then used to conduct film boiling simulations on both two-dimensional and three-dimensional adaptive grids. The average wall Nusselt number agrees well with the widely accepted correlations of Berenson (1961) and Klimenko (1981) and Klimenko and Shelepen (1982) for film boiling on a horizontal surface. For the test cases presented, the efficiency of the adaptive technique, as measured by the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) efficiency, is mostly in the range of 50–80%. Although this efficiency is a function of the nature and dimensionality of the problem, this range of efficiency is comparable to those obtained in the simulations of primary jet atomization conducted by Fuster et al. (2009). This work opens the prospect of conducting more realistic (three-dimensional) multi-modal boiling flow simulations, and problems of similar complexity, in an efficient manner.     

A GPU-accelerated adaptive discontinuous Galerkin method for level set equation

This paper presents a GPU-accelerated nodal discontinuous Galerkin method for the solution of two- and three-dimensional level set (LS) equation on unstructured adaptive meshes. Using adaptive mesh refinement, computations are localised mostly near the interface location to reduce the computational cost. Small global time step size resulting from the local adaptivity is avoided by local time-stepping based on a multi-rate Adams–Bashforth scheme. Platform independence of the solver is achieved with an extensible multi-threading programming API that allows runtime selection of different computing devices (GPU and CPU) and different threading interfaces (CUDA, OpenCL and OpenMP). Overall, a highly scalable, accurate and mass conservative numerical scheme that preserves the simplicity of LS formulation is obtained. Efficiency, performance and local high-order accuracy of the method are demonstrated through distinct numerical test cases.     

Conserving and decaying energy for finite-strain three-dimensional solids with rotational degrees of freedom in nonlinear dynamics

In this work, we design a time-stepping scheme, which can ensure either conservation of energy or dissipation of energy of high (unresolved) modes for nonlinear dynamic analysis. The latter is needed to improve the performance in stress computation and long-term numerical stability. Finite element implementation details are given for finite-strain three-dimensional solid model with independent rotational degrees of freedom. The addition of a rotation field requires a particular choice of large strain measures, allowing one to separate large rotation and large displacement. Several numerical simulations illustrate a very satisfying performance of the proposed time-stepping scheme.     

Finite Element Computations of Flow around a Wall-mounted Cube

In this paper, we present the application of a finite element scheme to full three-dimensional incompressible flow around a cube mounted on the wall in a channel. This scheme is based on the Petrov-Galerkin weak formulation using exponential weighting functions. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are numerically integrated in time by using a fractional step strategy with a second-order accurate Adams-Bashforth scheme. The workability and validity of the present approach are demonstrated through the results of streamlines and pressure coefficients in the flow field up to high Reynolds number regimes.     

Reconstruction of Clastic Porous Media

In this paper we present a refinement of an algorithm (Pilotti, 1998) to generate three-dimensional granular media by deposition of spherical grains in a viscous fluid. The proposed improvements allow the construction of clastic porous media made up of irregular grains, with controlled level of angularity, sorting and porosity. On the basis of visual comparison with prototypal cross sections and of computed two points correlation functions, we argue that the intergranular void spaces resulting from this procedure provide a satisfactory reproduction of the micro-geometry of several clean consolidated sandstones and can be used to explore the effect of void topology on the flow field properties.     

Numerical analysis of moving interfaces using a level set method coupled with adaptive mesh refinement

A novel numerical scheme is developed by coupling the level set method with the adaptive mesh refinement in order to analyse moving interfaces economically and accurately. The finite element method (FEM) is used to discretize the governing equations with the generalized simplified marker and cell (GSMAC) scheme, and the cubic interpolated pseudo‐particle (CIP) method is applied to the reinitialization of the level set function. The present adaptive mesh refinement is implemented in the quadrangular grid systems and easily embedded in the FEM‐based algorithm. For the judgement on renewal of mesh, the level set function is adopted as an indicator, and the threshold is set at the boundary of the smoothing band. With this criterion, the variation of physical properties and the jump quantity on the free surface can be calculated accurately enough, while the computation cost is largely reduced as a whole. In order to prove the validity of the present scheme, two‐dimensional numerical simulation is carried out in collapse of a water column, oscillation and movement of a drop under zero gravity. As a result, its effectiveness and usefulness are clearly shown qualitatively and quantitatively. Among them, the movement of a drop due to the Marangoni effect is first simulated efficiently with the present scheme. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of a three-dimensional dissimilar material joint with one real singularity using a conservative integral

In the present study, a conservative integral based on the Betti reciprocal principle is formulated to determine the intensity of singularity at a vertex of the interface in three-dimensional dissimilar material joints with one real singularity. Eigenanalysis formulated using a three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) is used to calculate the order of stress singularity, angular functions of displacements and stresses. Models with various element sizes and various integral areas are used to investigate the effect of the integration area on the accuracy of the results. The results are compared with those obtained from the boundary element method (BEM) using a curve-fitting technique to calculate the intensity of singularity. In addition, models of various lengths and various material combinations are used to investigate the stress singularity characteristics in three-dimensional dissimilar material joints. The results of the present study indicate that the conservative integral can be used to determine the intensity of singularity in three-dimensional bi-material joints. The accuracy of the results can be improved by mesh refinement. Finally, the relationships among the intensity of singularity, the order of stress singularity and the model geometry are discussed.