The constrained reinitialization equation for level set methods

Based on the constrained reinitialization scheme [D. Hartmann, M. Meinke, W. Schröder, Differential equation based constrained reinitialization for level set methods, J. Comput. Phys. 227 (2008) 6821–6845] a new constrained reinitialization equation incorporating a forcing term is introduced. Two formulations for high-order constrained reinitialization (HCR) are presented combining the simplicity and generality of the original reinitialization equation [M. Sussman, P. Smereka, S. Osher, A level set approach for computing solutions to incompressible two-phase flow, J. Comput. Phys. 114 (1994) 146–159] in terms of high-order standard discretization and the accuracy of the constrained reinitialization scheme in terms of interface displacement. The novel HCR schemes represent simple extensions of standard implementations of the original reinitialization equation. The results evidence the significantly increased accuracy and robustness of the novel schemes.     

Partially implicit motion of a sharp interface in Navier–Stokes flow

We develop a numerical method for the coupled motion of Navier–Stokes flow with an elastic interface of zero thickness which exerts tension and bending forces on the fluid. The interface motion is made partially implicit by approximating a backward Euler step in the high wavenumbers as in the small scale decomposition method of Hou, Lowengrub and Shelley. This modified step is combined with the method of Beale and Layton [J.T. Beale, A.T. Layton, A velocity decomposition approach for moving interfaces in viscous fluids, J. Comput. Phys. 228 (2009) 3358–67]; the fluid velocity is found by computing the Stokes velocity and a more regular remainder. The resulting scheme is second order in space and first order in time; it can be made second order in time by extrapolation. The discontinuities in the pressure and velocity gradient are preserved. The partially implicit method allows much larger time steps than an explicit method with negligible added effort. The formulas in the Fourier transform for the implicit approximation in high wavenumbers are similar to those derived in Hou and Shi [T.Y. Hou, Z. Shi, An efficient semi-implicit immersed boundary method for the Navier–Stokes equations, J. Comput. Phys. 227 (2008) 9138–69] in a different context.     

A balanced force refined level set grid method for two-phase flows on unstructured flow solver grids

A balanced force refined level set grid method for two-phase flows on structured and unstructured flow solver grids is presented. To accurately track the phase interface location, an auxiliary, high-resolution equidistant Cartesian grid is introduced. In conjunction with a dual-layer narrow band approach, this refined level set grid method allows for parallel, efficient grid convergence and error estimation studies of the interface tracking method. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved on an unstructured flow solver grid with a novel balanced force algorithm for level set methods based on the recently proposed method by Francois et al. [M.M. Francois, S.J. Cummins, E.D. Dendy, D.B. Kothe, J.M. Sicilian, M.W. Williams, A balanced-force algorithm for continuous and sharp interfacial surface tension models within a volume tracking framework, J. Comput. Phys. 213 (2006) 141–173] for volume of fluid methods on structured grids. To minimize spurious currents, a second order converging curvature evaluation technique for level set methods is presented. The results of several different test cases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, showing good mass conservation properties and second order converging spurious current magnitudes.     

A proof that a discrete delta function is second-order accurate

It is proved that a discrete delta function introduced by Smereka [P. Smereka, The numerical approximation of a delta function with application to level set methods, J. Comput. Phys. 211 (2006) 77–90] gives a second-order accurate quadrature rule for surface integrals using values on a regular background grid. The delta function is found using a technique of Mayo [A. Mayo, The fast solution of Poisson’s and the biharmonic equations on irregular regions, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 21 (1984) 285–299]. It can be expressed naturally using a level set function.     

A LES/PDF simulator on block-structured meshes

A block-structured mesh large-eddy simulation (LES)/probability density function (PDF) simulator is developed within the OpenFOAM framework for computational modelling of complex turbulent reacting flows. The LES/PDF solver is a hybrid solution methodology consisting of (i) a finite-volume (FV) method for solving the filtered mass and momentum equations (LES solver), and (ii) a Lagrangian particle-based Monte Carlo algorithm (PDF solver) for solving the modelled transport equation of the filtered joint PDF of compositions. Both the LES and the PDF methods are developed and combined to form a hybrid LES/PDF simulator entirely within the OpenFOAM framework. The in situ adaptive tabulation method [S.B. Pope, Computationally efficient implementation of combustion chemistry using in situ adaptive tabulation, Combust. Theory Model. 1 (1997), pp. 41–63; L. Lu, S.R. Lantz, Z. Ren, and B.S. Pope, Computationally efficient implementation of combustion chemistry in parallel PDF calculations, J. Comput. Phys. 228 (2009), pp. 5490–5525] is incorporated into the new LES/PDF solver for efficient computations of combustion chemistry with detailed reaction kinetics. The method is designed to utilise a block-structured mesh and can readily be extended to unstructured grids. The three-stage velocity interpolation method of Zhang and Haworth [A general mass consistency algorithm for hybrid particle/finite-volume PDF methods, J. Comput. Phys. 194 (2004), pp. 156–193] is adapted to interpolate the LES velocity field onto particle locations accurately and to enforce the consistency between LES and PDF fields at the numerical solution level. The hybrid algorithm is fully parallelised using the conventional domain decomposition approach. A detailed examination of the effects of each stage and the overall performance of the velocity interpolation algorithm is performed. Accurate coupling of the LES and PDF solvers is demonstrated using the one-way coupling methodology. Then the fully two-way coupled LES/PDF solver is successfully applied to simulate the Sandia Flame-D, and a turbulent non-swirling premixed flame and a turbulent swirling stratified flame from the Cambridge turbulent stratified flame series [M.S. Sweeney, S. Hochgreb, M.J. Dunn, and R.S. Barlow, The structure of turbulent stratified and premixed methane/air flames I: Non-swirling flows, Combust. Flame 159 (2012), pp. 2896–2911; M.S. Sweeney, S. Hochgreb, M.J. Dunn, and R.S. Barlow, The structure of turbulent stratified and premixed methane/air flames II: Swirling flows, Combust. Flame 159 (2012), pp. 2912–2929]. It is found that the LES/PDF method is very robust and the results are in good agreement with the experimental data for both flames.     

Simulation of Shock Wave Diffraction over 90° Sharp Corner in Gases of Arbitrary Statistics

The unsteady shock wave diffraction over a 90° sharp corner in gases of arbitrary particle statistics is simulated using an accurate and direct algorithm for solving the semiclassical Boltzmann equation with relaxation time approximation in phase space. The numerical method is based on the usage of discrete ordinate method for discretizing the velocity space of the distribution function; whereas a second order accurate TVD scheme (Harten in J. Comput. Phys. 49(3):357–393, 1983) with Van Leer’s limiter (J. Comput. Phys. 32(1):101–136, 1979) is used for evolving the solution in physical space and time. The specular reflection surface boundary condition is assumed. The complete diffraction patterns are recorded using various flow property contours. Different range of relaxation times approximately corresponding to continuum, slip and transitional regimes are considered and the equilibrium Euler limit solution is also computed for comparison. The effects of gas particles that obey the Maxwell-Boltzmann, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics are examined and depicted.     

Two-phase electrohydrodynamic simulations using a volume-of-fluid approach

A numerical methodology to simulate two-phase electrohydrodynamic flows under the volume-of-fluid paradigm is proposed. The electric force in such systems acts only at the interface and is zero elsewhere in the two fluids. Continuum surface force representations are derived for the electric field force in a system of dielectric–dielectric and conducting–conducting fluids. On the basis of analytical calculations for simple flow problems we propose a weighted harmonic mean interpolation scheme to smoothen the electric properties in the diffused transition region (interface). It is shown that a wrong choice of interpolation scheme (weighted arithmetic mean) may lead to a transition region thickness dependent electric field in the bulk. We simulate a set of problems with exact or approximate analytical solutions to validate the numerical model proposed. A coupled level set and volume-of-fluid (CLSVOF) algorithm has been used for simulations presented here.     

A direct Eulerian GRP scheme for relativistic hydrodynamics: Two-dimensional case

This paper develops a direct Eulerian generalized Riemann problem (GRP) scheme for two-dimensional (2D) relativistic hydrodynamics (RHD). It is an extension of the GRP scheme for one-dimensional (1D) RHDs [Z.C. Yang, P. He, H.Z. Tang, J. Comput. Phys. 230 (2011) 7964–7987] and the GRP scheme for the non-relativistic hydrodynamics [M. Ben-Artzi, J.Q. Li, G. Warnecke, J. Comput. Phys. 218 (2006) 19–43]. In order to derive the direct Eulerian GRP scheme, the (local) GRP of the split 2D RHD equations in the Eulerian formulation has to be directly resolved by using corresponding Riemann invariants and Rankine–Hugoniot jump conditions so that the crucial and delicate Lagrangian treatment in the original GRP scheme [M. Ben-Artzi, J. Falcovitz, J. Comput. Phys. 55 (1984) 1–32] may be avoided. An important difference of resolving the GRP of the split 2D RHD equations from the GRP of the 1D RHD equations or the non-relativistic hydrodynamical equations is coming from the fact that the flow regions across the shock or rarefaction wave in the GRP of the split 2D RHD equations are nonlinearly coupled through the Lorentz factor which is also built in terms of the tangential velocities. It is a purely multi-dimensional relativistic feature. Several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed 2D GRP scheme.     

Numerical simulation of drop impact on a liquid–liquid interface with a multiple marker front-capturing method

The gravity-driven motion of a droplet impacting on a liquid–liquid interface is studied. The full Navier–Stokes equations are solved on a fixed, uniform grid using a finite difference/front-capturing method. For the representation of fluid–fluid interfaces, a coupled Level-Set/Volume-Of-Fluid method [M. Sussman, E.G. Puckett, A coupled Level-Set and Volume-of-Fluid method for computing 3D and axisymmetric incompressible two-phase flows, J. Comp. Phys. 162 (2000) 301–337] is used, in which we introduce the novel approach of describing separate interfaces with different marker functions. As a consequence, we prevent numerical coalescence of the droplet and the liquid–liquid interface without excessive (local) grid refinement. To validate our method, numerical simulations of the drop impact event are compared with experiments [Z. Mohamed-Kassim, E.K. Longmire, Drop impact on a liquid–liquid interface, Phys. Fluids 15 (2003) 3263–3273]. Furthermore, a comparison is made with the numerical results of [A. Esmaeeli, G. Tryggvason, Direct numerical simulations of bubbly flows. Part 2. Moderate Reynolds number arrays, J. Fluid Mech. 385 (1999) 325–358] for an array of rising bubbles. The investigation shows that the multiple marker approach successfully prevents numerical coalescence of interfaces and adequately captures the effect of surface tension.     

Predissociation resonances in CO and IBr. Smooth exterior scaling combined with the discrete variable representation

Smooth exterior scaling (SES) and the discrete variable representation (DVR) are combined to accurately compute predissociation resonances of a bound state non-adiabatically coupled to a dissociative state. For the CO( predissociation interaction good agreement is found with approaches based on optical potentials and complex scaling. The comparison is done both in the diabatic and the adiabatic representation. The effect of the coupling strength in the IBr predissociation interaction and the transition from the diabatic to the adiabatic picture was studied by computing resonances for coupling strengths from up to . The transition from weak (diabatic) to strong (adiabatic) coupling was clearly seen. The intermediate case leads to a complicated resonance distribution. Comparison was made with recent studies using pump-probe spectroscopy [M. Shapiro, M.J.J. Vrakking, A. Stolow, J. Chem. Phys. 110, 2465 (1999)]. It was found that the overall features of the experiment could be explained from the resonance distribution, but for a detailed comparison more accurate potential energy surfaces and couplings are needed. Received 12 July 1999 and Received in final form 6 December 1999     

Sobolev gradient approach for the time evolution related to energy minimization of Ginzburg–Landau functionals

The Sobolev gradient technique has been discussed previously in this journal as an efficient method for finding energy minima of certain Ginzburg–Landau type functionals [S. Sial, J. Neuberger, T. Lookman, A. Saxena, Energy minimization using Sobolev gradients: application to phase separation and ordering, J. Comput. Phys. 189 (2003) 88–97]. In this article a Sobolev gradient method for the related time evolution is discussed.     

Numerical approximation of the Vlasov–Maxwell–Fokker–Planck system in two dimensions

A numerical method is developed for solving the Vlasov–Maxwell–Fokker–Planck system in two spatial dimensions. This system of equations is a model for a collisional plasma in the presence of a self consistent electromagnetic field. The numerical procedure is a type of deterministic particle method and is an extension to include the full electromagnetic field of the approximation method of Wollman and Ozizmir [S. Wollman, E. Ozizmir, Numerical approximation of the Vlasov–Poisson–Fokker–Planck system in two dimensions, J. Comput. Phys. 228 (2009) 6629–6669]. In addition, the long time asymptotic behavior of solutions is studied. It is determined that the solution to the Vlasov–Maxwell–Fokker–Planck system converges to the same steady state solution as that for the Vlasov–Poisson–Fokker–Planck system.     

A method for visualization of invariant sets of dynamical systems based on the ergodic partition

We provide an algorithm for visualization of invariant sets of dynamical systems with a smooth invariant measure. The algorithm is based on a constructive proof of the ergodic partition theorem for automorphisms of compact metric spaces. The ergodic partition of a compact metric space A, under the dynamics of a continuous automorphism T, is shown to be the product of measurable partitions of the space induced by the time averages of a set of functions on A. The numerical algorithm consists of computing the time averages of a chosen set of functions and partitioning the phase space into their level sets. The method is applied to the three-dimensional ABC map for which the dynamics was visualized by other methods in Feingold et al. [J. Stat. Phys. 50, 529 (1988)]. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.     

Experimental implementation of local adiabatic evolution algorithms by an NMR quantum information processor

Quantum adiabatic algorithm is a method of solving computational problems by evolving the ground state of a slowly varying Hamiltonian. The technique uses evolution of the ground state of a slowly varying Hamiltonian to reach the required output state. In some cases, such as the adiabatic versions of Grover's search algorithm and Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm, applying the global adiabatic evolution yields a complexity similar to their classical algorithms. However, using the local adiabatic evolution, the algorithms given by J. Roland and N.J. Cerf for Grover's search [J. Roland, N.J. Cerf, Quantum search by local adiabatic evolution, Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 042308] and by Saurya Das, Randy Kobes, and Gabor Kunstatter for the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm [S. Das, R. Kobes, G. Kunstatter, Adiabatic quantum computation and Deutsh's algorithm, Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 062301], yield a complexity of order N (where N=2(n) and n is the number of qubits). In this paper, we report the experimental implementation of these local adiabatic evolution algorithms on a 2-qubit quantum information processor, by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.     

A full Eulerian finite difference approach for solving fluid–structure coupling problems

A new simulation method for solving fluid–structure coupling problems has been developed. All the basic equations are numerically solved on a fixed Cartesian grid using a finite difference scheme. A volume-of-fluid formulation [Hirt, Nichols, J. Comput. Phys. 39 (1981) 201], which has been widely used for multiphase flow simulations, is applied to describing the multi-component geometry. The temporal change in the solid deformation is described in the Eulerian frame by updating a left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor, which is used to express constitutive equations for nonlinear Mooney–Rivlin materials. In this paper, various verifications and validations of the present full Eulerian method, which solves the fluid and solid motions on a fixed grid, are demonstrated, and the numerical accuracy involved in the fluid–structure coupling problems is examined.     

A simple and efficient direct forcing immersed boundary framework for fluid–structure interactions

A direct forcing immersed boundary framework is presented for the simple and efficient simulation of strongly coupled fluid–structure interactions. The immersed boundary method developed by Yang and Balaras [J. Yang, E. Balaras, An embedded-boundary formulation for large-eddy simulation of turbulent flows interacting with moving boundaries, J. Comput. Phys. 215 (1) (2006) 12–40] is greatly simplified by eliminating several complicated geometric procedures without sacrificing the overall accuracy. The fluid–structure coupling scheme of Yang et al. [J. Yang, S. Preidikman, E. Balaras, A strongly-coupled, embedded-boundary method for fluid–structure interactions of elastically mounted rigid bodies, J. Fluids Struct. 24 (2008) 167–182] is also significantly expedited by moving the fluid solver out of the predictor–corrector iterative loop without altering the strong coupling property. Central to these improvements are the reformulation of the field extension strategy and the evaluation of fluid force and moment exerted on the immersed bodies, by taking advantage of the direct forcing idea in a fractional-step method. Several cases with prescribed motions are examined first to validate the simplified field extension approach. Then, a variety of strongly coupled fluid–structure interaction problems, including vortex-induced vibrations of a circular cylinder, transverse and rotational galloping of rectangular bodies, and fluttering and tumbling of rectangular plates, are computed. The excellent agreement between the present results and the reference data from experiments and other simulations demonstrates the accuracy, simplicity, and efficiency of the new method and its applicability in a wide range of complicated fluid–structure interaction problems.     

A constant-density approach for incompressible multi-phase SPH

A constant-density approach, which corrects intermediate density errors by adjusting the half-time-step velocity with exact projection, is proposed for the multi-phase SPH method developed in our previous work [X.Y. Hu, N.A. Adams, An incompressible multi-phase SPH method, J. Comput. Phys. 227 (2007) 264–278]. As no prescribed reference pressure is required, the present approach introduces smaller numerical viscosity and allows to simulate flows with unprecedentedly high density ratios by the projection SPH method. Numerical examples for Taylor–Green flow, capillary waves and for Rayleigh–Taylor instability are presented and compared to theoretical solutions or references from the literature.     

Monte Carlo methods for turbulent tracers with long range and fractal random velocity fields

Monte Carlo methods for computing various statistical aspects of turbulent diffusion with long range correlated and even fractal random velocity fields are described here. A simple explicit exactly solvable model with complex regimes of scaling behavior including trapping, subdiffusion, and superdiffusion is utilized to compare and contrast the capabilities of conventional Monte Carlo procedures such as the Fourier method and the moving average method; explicit numerical examples are presented which demonstrate the poor convergence of these conventional methods in various regimes with long range velocity correlations. A new method for computing fractal random fields involving wavelets and random plane waves developed recently by two of the authors [J. Comput. Phys. 117, 146 (1995)] is applied to compute pair dispersion over many decades for systematic families of anisotropic fractal velocity fields with the Kolmogorov spectrum. The important associated preconstant for pair dispersion in the Richardson law in these anisotropic settings is compared with the one obtained over many decades recently by two of the authors [Phys. Fluids 8, 1052 (1996)] for an isotropic fractal field with the Kolmogorov spectrum. (c) 1997 American Institute of Physics.     

A fast multipole method for the three-dimensional Stokes equations

Many problems in Stokes flow (and linear elasticity) require the evaluation of vector fields defined in terms of sums involving large numbers of fundamental solutions. In the fluid mechanics setting, these are typically the Stokeslet (the kernel of the single layer potential) or the Stresslet (the kernel of the double layer potential). In this paper, we present a simple and efficient method for the rapid evaluation of such fields, using a decomposition into a small number of Coulombic N-body problems, following an approach similar to that of Fu and Rodin [Y. Fu, G.J. Rodin, Fast solution methods for three-dimensional Stokesian many-particle problems, Commun. Numer. Meth. En. 16 (2000) 145–149]. While any fast summation algorithm for Coulombic interactions can be employed, we present numerical results from a scheme based on the most modern version of the fast multipole method [H. Cheng, L. Greengard, V. Rokhlin, A fast adaptive multipole algorithm in three dimensions, J. Comput. Phys. 155 (1999) 468–498]. This approach should be of value in both the solution of boundary integral equations and multiparticle dynamics.     

Partial evolution based local adiabatic quantum search

Recently, Zhang and Lu provided a quantum search algorithm based on partial adiabatic evolution, which beats the time bound of local adiabatic search when the number of marked items in the unsorted database is larger than one. Later, they found that the above two adiabatic search algorithms had the same time complexity when there is only one marked item in the database. In the present paper, following the idea of Roland and Cerf [Roland J and Cerf N J 2002 Phys. Rev. A 65 042308], if within the small symmetric evolution interval defined by Zhang et al., a local adiabatic evolution is performed instead of the original “global” one, this “new” algorithm exhibits slightly better performance, although they are progressively equivalent with M increasing. In addition, the proof of the optimality for this partial evolution based local adiabatic search when M=1 is also presented. Two other special cases of the adiabatic algorithm obtained by appropriately tuning the evolution interval of partial adiabatic evolution based quantum search, which are found to have the same phenomenon above, are also discussed.