Application of the wavenumber jump condition to the normal and oblique interaction of a plane acoustic wave and a plane shock

A kinematic approach is considered whereby the wavenumber jump conditions in conjunction with the appropriate dispersion relations is applied to the investigation of the normal and oblique interaction of a plane acoustic wave with a plane shock wave. For the normal interaction of an acoustic wave with a stationary plane shock a logarithmic shift in the wave spectra is obtained. For the normal interaction with a moving shock front it is shown that for shock Mach numbers above a critical value, the frequency of the transmitted wave becomes negative. This results in the fact that the crests of the transmitted signal arrive at a fixed observer in a reverse order to their generation. Finally, the oblique interaction of an acoustic wave with a stationary shock is considered. The “Snell's Law” for the transmitted wave is derived and two special angles of incidence are identified. The first is a no-refraction angle: i.e., the transmitted wave angle is the same as the incident wave angle. The second is a critical angle such that for incident angles greater than this critical angle there is no transmitted wave. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a transmitted wave is derived in terms of the speed of sound and Mach number of the fluid and the frequency and tangential wavenumber component of the incident wave.The dynamics aspects of the interaction concerning the determination of the frequency independent transmission coefficients and shock displacements are determined for the simple case of the normal interaction with a moving shock as an illustration.     

Insensitive Functionals,Inconsistent Gradients,Spurious Minima,and Regularized Functionals in Flow Optimization Problems

We use the simple context of Navier-Stokes flow in a channel with a bump to examine problems caused by the insensitivity of functionals with respect to design parameters, the inconsistency of functional gradient approximations, and the appearance of spurious minima in discretized functionals. We discuss how regularization can help overcome these problems. Along the way, we compare the discretize-then-differentiate and differentiate-then-discretize approaches to optimization, especially as they relate to the issue of inconsistent functional gradients. We close with a discussion of the implications that our observations have on more practical flow control and optimization problems.     

Finite element approximation of a periodic Ginzburg-Landau model for type-II superconductors

Summary We consider efficient finite element algorithms for the computational simulation of type-II superconductors. The algorithms are based on discretizations of a periodic Ginzburg-Landau model. Periodicity is defined with respect to a non-orthogonal lattice that is not necessarily aligned with the coordinate axes; also, the primary dependent variables employed in the model satisfy non-standard quasi-periodic boundary conditions. After introducing the model, we define finite element schemes, derive error estimates of optimal order, and present the results of some numerical calculations. For a similar quality of simulation, the resulting algorithms seem to be significantly less costly than are previously used numerical approximation methods.     

Error analysis of finite element approximations of the stochastic Stokes equations

Numerical solutions of the stochastic Stokes equations driven by white noise perturbed forcing terms using finite element methods are considered. The discretization of the white noise and finite element approximation algorithms are studied. The rate of convergence of the finite element approximations is proved to be almost first order (h|ln h|) in two dimensions and one half order ( h^\frac12h^{\frac{1}{2}}) in three dimensions. Numerical results using the algorithms developed are also presented.     

Reduced‐order modeling for nonlocal diffusion problems

In several settings, diffusive behavior is observed to not follow the rate of spread predicted by parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) such as the heat equation. Such behaviors, often referred to as anomalous diffusion, can be modeled using nonlocal equations for which points at a finite distance apart can interact. An example of such models is provided by fractional derivative equations. Because of the nonlocal interactions, discretized nonlocal systems have less sparsity, often significantly less, compared with corresponding discretized PDE systems. As such, the need for reduced‐order surrogates that can be used to cheaply determine approximate solutions is much more acute for nonlocal models compared with that for PDEs. In this paper, we consider the construction, application, and testing of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) reduced models for an integral equation model for nonlocal diffusion. For certain modeling parameters, the model we consider allows for discontinuous solutions and includes fractional Laplacian kernels as a special case. Preliminary computational results illustrate the potential of using POD to obtain accurate approximations of solutions of nonlocal diffusion equations at much lower costs compared with, for example, standard finite element methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Compatible discretizations of second-order elliptic problems

Differential forms provide a powerful abstraction tool to encode the structure of many partial differential equation problems. Discrete differential forms offer the same possibility with regard to compatible discretizations of these problems, i.e., for finite-dimensional models that exhibit similar conservation properties and invariants. We consider an application of the discrete exterior calculus to approximation of second-order, elliptic, boundary-value problems. We show that there exist three possible discretization patterns. In the context of finite element methods, two of these patterns lead to familiar classes of discrete problems, while the third one offers a novel perspective about least-squares variational principles; namely, it shows how they can arise from particular choices for discrete Hodge-* operators. Bibliography: 30 titles. Dedicated to the memory of Olga A. Ladyzhenskaya Published in Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 318, 2004, pp. 75–99.