Modeling of solute transport into sub-aqueous sediments

A model for investigating the solute transport into a sub-aqueous sediment bed, under an imposed standing water surface wave, is developed. Under the assumption of Darcy flow in the bed, a model based on a two-dimensional, unsteady advection–diffusion equation is derived; the relative roles of the advective and diffusive transport are characterized by a Peclet number, Pe. Two solutions for the equation are developed. The first is a basic control volume method using the power-law scheme. The second is a smear-free, modified upwind solution for the special case of Pe → ∞. Results, at a given time step, are reported in terms of a laterally averaged solute verse depth profile. The main result of the paper is to demonstrate that the one-dimensional solute concentration verse depth profile is essentially independent of any numerical dissipation present in the solute field predictions. This demonstration is achieved by (i) using an extensive grid refinement study, and (ii) by comparing Pe → ∞ predictions obtained with the basic and smear-free solutions.     

On preconditioners for the Laplace double‐layer in 2D

The discretization of the double‐layer potential integral equation for the interior Dirichlet–Laplace problem in a domain with smooth boundary results in a linear system that has a bounded condition number. Thus, the number of iterations required for the convergence of a Krylov method is, asymptotically, independent of the discretization size N. Using the fast multipole method to accelerate the matrix–vector products, we obtain an optimal solver. In practice, however, when the geometry is complicated, the number of Krylov iterations can be quite large—to the extend that necessitates the use of preconditioning. We summarize the different methodologies that have appeared in the literature (single‐grid, multigrid, approximate sparse inverses), and we propose a new class of preconditioners based on a fast multipole method‐based spatial decomposition of the double‐layer operator. We present an experimental study in which we compare the different approaches, and we discuss the merits and shortcomings of our approach. Our method can be easily extended to other second‐kind integral equations with non‐oscillatory kernels in two and three dimensions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability of a combined finite element ‐ finite volume discretization of convection‐diffusion equations

We consider a time‐dependent and a stationary convection‐diffusion equation. These equations are approximated by a combined finite element – finite volume method: the diffusion term is discretized by Crouzeix‐Raviart piecewise linear finite elements on a triangular grid, and the convection term by upwind barycentric finite volumes. In the nonstationary case, we use an implicit Euler approach for time discretization. This scheme is shown to be L²‐stable uniformly with respect to the diffusion coefficient. In addition, it turns out that stability is unconditional in the time‐dependent case. These results hold if the underlying grid satisfies a condition that is fulfilled, for example, by some structured meshes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 28: 402–424, 2012     

Preconditioners Based on Fundamental Solutions

We consider a new preconditioning technique for the iterative solution of linear systems of equations that arise when discretizing partial differential equations. The method is applied to finite difference discretizations, but the ideas apply to other discretizations too. If E is a fundamental solution of a differential operator P, we have E*(Pu) = u. Inspired by this, we choose the preconditioner to be a discretization of an approximate inverse K, given by a convolution-like operator with E as a kernel. We present analysis showing that if P is a first order differential operator, KP is bounded, and numerical results show grid independent convergence for first order partial differential equations, using fixed point iterations. For the second order convection-diffusion equation convergence is no longer grid independent when using fixed point iterations, a result that is consistent with our theory. However, if the grid is chosen to give a fixed number of grid points within boundary layers, the number of iterations is independent of the physical viscosity parameter. AMS subject classification (2000) 65F10, 65N22     

Boundary layers for cellular flows at high Péclet numbers

We analyze the behavior of solutions of steady advection‐diffusion problems in bounded domains with prescribed Dirichlet data when the Péclet number Pe ? 1 is large. We show that the solution converges to a constant in each flow cell outside a boundary layer of width O(?^1/2), ? = Pe^?1, around the flow separatrices. We construct an ?‐dependent approximate “water pipe problem” purely inside the boundary layer that provides a good approximation of the solution of the full problem but has ?‐independent computational cost. We also define an asymptotic problem on the graph of streamline separatrices and show that solution of the water pipe problem itself may be approximated by an asymptotic, ?‐independent problem on this graph. Finally, we show that the Dirichlet‐to‐Neumann map of the water pipe problem approximates the Dirichlet‐to‐Neumann map of the separatrix problem with an error independent of the flow outside the boundary layers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Wavelet Techniques for the Fictitious-Domain-Lagrange-Multiplier-Approach

We consider second order elliptic boundary value problems when essential boundary conditions are enforced with the aid of Lagrange multipliers. This is combined with a fictitious domain approach into which the physical domain is embedded. The resulting saddle point problem will be discretized in terms of wavelets, resulting in an operator equation in ₂. Stability of the discretization and consequently the uniform boundedness of the condition number of the finite-dimensional operator independent of the discretization is guaranteed by an appropriate LBB condition. For the iterative solution of the saddle point system, an incomplete Uzawa algorithm is employed. It can be shown that the iterative scheme combined with a nested iteration strategy is asymptotically optimal in the sense that it provides the solution up to discretization error on discretization level J in an overall amount of iterations of order O(N _J ), where N _J is the number of unknowns on level J. Finally, numerical results are provided.     

Accurate finite difference schemes for solving a 3D micro heat transfer model in an N-carrier system with the Neumann boundary condition in spherical coordinates

In this study, we propose a 3D generalized micro heat transfer model in an N-carrier system with the Neumann boundary condition in spherical coordinates, which can be applied to describe the non-equilibrium heating in biological cells. Two improved unconditionally stable Crank-Nicholson schemes are then presented for solving the generalized model. In particular, we delicately adjust the location of the interior grid point that is next to the boundary so that the Neumann boundary condition can be applied directly without discretization. As such, a second-order accurate finite difference scheme without using any fictitious grid points is obtained. The convergence rates of the numerical solution are tested by an example. Results show that the convergence rates of the present schemes are about 2.0 with respect to the spatial variable r, which improves the accuracy of the Crank-Nicholson scheme coupled with the conventional first-order approximation for the Neumann boundary condition.     

Finite difference method in the problem of diffraction of a plane acoustic wave in a half-plane with a cut

In the numerical solution of the diffraction problem for an acoustic plane wave in a half-plane with a cut, boundary conditions that are equivalent to the radiation conditions at infinity are set in a neighborhood of the points of the cut. Joining the physical boundary conditions on the cut, a closing set of equations of order 4N, where N is the number of grid points on the cut, is obtained. The so-called Green’s grid function for the half-plane is used, which makes it possible to pass from one grid layer to another one for the solution satisfying certain conditions at infinity.     

A fast finite difference method for biharmonic equations on irregular domains and its application to an incompressible Stokes flow

Biharmonic equations have many applications, especially in fluid and solid mechanics, but is difficult to solve due to the fourth order derivatives in the differential equation. In this paper a fast second order accurate algorithm based on a finite difference discretization and a Cartesian grid is developed for two dimensional biharmonic equations on irregular domains with essential boundary conditions. The irregular domain is embedded into a rectangular region and the biharmonic equation is decoupled to two Poisson equations. An auxiliary unknown quantity Δu along the boundary is introduced so that fast Poisson solvers on irregular domains can be used. Non-trivial numerical examples show the efficiency of the proposed method. The number of iterations of the method is independent of the mesh size. Another key to the method is a new interpolation scheme to evaluate the residual of the Schur complement system. The new biharmonic solver has been applied to solve the incompressible Stokes flow on an irregular domain.      

Efficient Ritz-Galerkin Discretization of PDEs with Variable Coefficients in arbitrary Dimensions using Sparse Grids

Sparse grids can be used to discretize elliptic differential equations of second order on a d-dimensional cube. Using the Ritz-Galerkin discretization, one obtains a linear equation system with 𝒪 (N (log N)^d−1) unknowns. The corresponding discretization error is 𝒪 (N⁻¹ (log N)^d−1) in the H¹-norm. A major difficulty in using this sparse grid discretization is the complexity of the related stiffness matrix. To reduce the complexity of the sparse grid discretization matrix, we apply prewavelets and a discretization with semi-orthogonality. Furthermore, a recursive algorithm is used, which performs a matrix vector multiplication with the stiffness matrix by 𝒪 (N (log N)^d−1) operations. Simulation results up to level 10 are presented for a 6-dimensional Helmholtz problem with variable coefficients. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A new type of boundary treatment for wave propagation

Numerical approximation of wave propagation can be done very efficiently on uniform grids. The Yee scheme is a good example. A serious problem with uniform grids is the approximation of boundary conditions at a boundary not aligned with the grid. In this paper, boundary conditions are introduced by modifying appropriate material coefficients at a few grid points close to the embedded boundary. This procedure is applied to the Yee scheme and the resulting method is proven to be \(L^2\)-stable in one space dimension. Depending on the boundary approximation technique it is of first or second order accuracy even if the boundary is located at an arbitrary point relative to the grid. This boundary treatment is applied also to a higher order discretization resulting in a third order accurate method. All algorithms have the same staggered grid structure in the interior as well as across the boundaries for efficiency. A numerical example with the extension to two space dimensions is included.     

On richardson extrapolation for finite difference methods on regular grids

Summary Difference solutions of partial differential equations can in certain cases be expanded by even powers of a discretization parameterh. If we haven solutions corresponding to different mesh widthsh ₁,...,h _n we can improve the accuracy by Richardson extrapolation and get a solution of order 2n, yet only on the intersection of all grids used, i.e. normally on the coarsest grid. To interpolate this high order solution with the same accuracy in points not belonging to all grids, we need 2n points in an interval of length (2n–1)h ₁.This drawback can be avoided by combining such an interpolation with the extrapolation byh. In this case the approximation depends only on grid points in an interval of length 3/2h ₁. The length of this interval is independent of the desired order.By combining this approach with the method of Kreiss, boundary conditions on curved boundaries can be discretized with a high order even on coarse grids.This paper is based on a lecture held at the 5th Sanmarinian University Session of the International Academy of Sciences San Marino, at San Marino, 1988-08-27-1988-09-05     

Numerical analysis of a modified finite element nonlinear Galerkin method

Summary. A fully discrete modified finite element nonlinear Galerkin method is presented for the two-dimensional equation of Navier-Stokes type. The spatial discretization is based on two finite element spaces X_H and X_h defined on a coarse grid with grid size H and a fine grid with grid size h << H, respectively; the time discretization is based on the Euler explicit scheme with respect to the nonlinear term. We analyze the stability and convergence rate of the method. Comparing with the standard finite element Galerkin method and the nonlinear Galerkin method, this method can admit a larger time step under the same convergence rate of same order. Hence this method can save a large amount of computational time. Finally, we provide some numerical tests on this method, the standard finite element Galerkin method, and the nonlinear Galerkin method, which are in a good agreement with the theoretical analysis.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 35Q30, 65M60, 65N30, 76D05     

Composite finite element approximation for nonlinear parabolic problems in nonconvex polygonal domains

We study a new class of finite elements so‐called composite finite elements (CFEs), introduced earlier by Hackbusch and Sauter, Numer. Math., 1997; 75:447‐472, for the approximation of nonlinear parabolic equation in a nonconvex polygonal domain. A two‐scale CFE discretization is used for the space discretizations, where the coarse‐scale grid discretized the domain at an appropriate distance from the boundary and the fine‐scale grid is used to resolve the boundary. A continuous, piecewise linear CFE space is employed for the spatially semidiscrete finite element approximation and the temporal discretizations is based on modified linearized backward Euler scheme. We derive almost optimal‐order convergence in space and optimal order in time for the CFE method in the L^∞(L²) norm. Numerical experiment is carried out for an L‐shaped domain to illustrate our theoretical findings.     

A characterization of mapping unstructured grids onto structured grids and using multigrid as a preconditioner

Many problems based on unstructured grids provide a natural multigrid framework due to using an adaptive gridding procedure. When the grids are saved, even starting from just a fine grid problem poses no serious theoretical difficulties in applying multigrid. A more difficult case occurs when a highly unstructured grid problem is to be solved with no hints how the grid was produced. Here, there may be no natural multigrid structure and applying such a solver may be quite difficult to do. Since unstructured grids play a vital role in scientific computing, many modifications have been proposed in order to apply a fast, robust multigrid solver. One suggested solution is to map the unstructured grid onto a structured grid and then apply multigrid to a sequence of structured grids as a preconditioner. In this paper, we derive both general upper and lower bounds on the condition number of this procedure in terms of computable grid parameters. We provide examples to illuminate when this preconditioner is a useful (e. g.,p orh-p formulated finite element problems on semi-structured grids) or should be avoided (e.g., typical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) or boundary layer problems). We show that unless great care is taken, this mapping can lead to a system with a high condition number which eliminates the advantage of the multigrid method. This work was partially supported by ONR Grant # N0014-91-J-1576.     

Accuracy,robustness and efficiency comparison in iterative computation of convection diffusion equation with boundary layers

Nine‐point fourth‐order compact finite difference scheme, central difference scheme, and upwind difference scheme are compared for solving the two‐dimensional convection diffusion equations with boundary layers. The domain is discretized with a stretched nonuniform grid. A grid transformation technique maps the nonuniform grid to a uniform one, on which the difference schemes are applied. A multigrid method and a multilevel preconditioning technique are used to solve the resulting sparse linear systems. We compare the accuracy of the computed solutions from different discretization schemes, and demonstrate the relative efficiency of each scheme. Comparisons of maximum absolute errors, iteration counts, CPU timings, and memory cost are made with respect to the two solution strategies. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 16: 379–394, 2000     

Two grid finite element discretization method for semi‐linear hyperbolic integro‐differential equations

In this paper, we will investigate a two grid finite element discretization method for the semi‐linear hyperbolic integro‐differential equations by piecewise continuous finite element method. In order to deal with the semi‐linearity of the model, we use the two grid technique and derive that once the coarse and fine mesh sizes H, h satisfy the relation h = H² for the two‐step two grid discretization method, the two grid method achieves the same convergence accuracy as the ordinary finite element method. Both theoretical analysis and numerical experiments are given to verify the results.     

Error estimates for the finite-element solution of an elliptic singularly perturbed problem

e-mail:ang{at}am.uni-erlangen.de The paper deals with an upwind discretization of finite-volume-typefor singularly perturbed elliptic boundary value problems. Stability,inverse monotonicity and convergence are considered. The mainobjective is to pursue the dependence of the error estimateon the perturbation parameter.     

An adaptive fast direct solver for boundary integral equations in two dimensions

We describe an algorithm for the rapid direct solution of linear algebraic systems arising from the discretization of boundary integral equations of potential theory in two dimensions. The algorithm is combined with a scheme that adaptively rearranges the parameterization of the boundary in order to minimize the ranks of the off-diagonal blocks in the discretized operator, thus obviating the need for the user to supply a parameterization r of the boundary for which the distance ‖r(s)−r(t)‖ between two points on the boundary is related to their corresponding distance |s−t| in the parameter space. The algorithm has an asymptotic complexity of , where N is the number of nodes in the discretization. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated with several numerical examples.