Feature‐based adaptive mesh refinement for wingtip vortices

Feature‐based solution‐adaptive mesh refinement is an attractive strategy when it is known a priori that the resolution of certain key features is critical to achieving the objectives of a simulation. In this paper, we apply vortex characterization techniques, which are typically employed to visualize vortices, to identify regions of the computational domain for mesh refinement. We investigate different refinement strategies that are facilitated by these vortex characterization techniques to simulate the flow past a wing in a wind tunnel. Our results, which we compare with experimental data, indicate that it is necessary to refine the region within and near the vortex extent surface to obtain an accurate prediction. Application of the identified mesh refinement strategy also produced observed improvement in the results predicted for a spinning missile with deflected canards. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multigrid adaptive mesh refinement strategy for 3D aerodynamic design

Presently, improving the accuracy and reducing computational costs are still two major CFD objectives often considered incompatible. This paper proposes to solve this dilemma by developing an adaptive mesh refinement method in order to integrate the 3D Euler and Navier–Stokes equations on structured meshes, where a local multigrid method is used to accelerate convergence for steady compressible flows. The time integration method is a LU‐SGS method (AIAA J 1988; 26: 1025–1026) associated with a spatial Jameson‐type scheme (Numerical solutions of the Euler equations by finite volume methods using Runge–Kutta time‐stepping schemes. AIAA Paper, 81‐1259, 1981). Computations of turbulent flows are handled by the standard k–ω model of Wilcox (AIAA J 1994; 32: 247–255). A coarse grid correction, based on composite residuals, has been devised in order to enforce the coupling between the different grid levels and to accelerate the convergence. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on standard 2D and 3D aerodynamic configurations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种新的求解对流占优问题的自适应网格细化方法

在均匀网格上求解对流占优问题时,往往会产生数值震荡现象,因此需要局部加密网格来提高解的精度。针对对流占优问题,设计了一种新的自适应网格细化算法。该方法采用流线迎风SUPG(Petrov-Galerkin)格式求解对流占优问题,定义了网格尺寸并通过后验误差估计子修正来指导自适应网格细化,以泡泡型局部网格生成算法BLMG为网格生成器,通过模拟泡泡在区域中的运动得到了高质量的点集。与其他自适应网格细化方法相比,该方法可在同一框架内实现网格的细化和粗化,同时在所有细化层得到了高质量的网格。数值算例结果表明,该方法在求解对流占优问题时具有更高的数值精度和更好的收敛性。     

On the performance of adaptive mesh refinement computation

A finite difference scheme for the unsteady Euler equations using an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm was applied to the time-dependent flowfield of shock diffraction problems. The effectiveness of the AMR algorithm was evaluated against a uniform mesh algorithm. Computational results showed that to obtain solutions with equivalent resolution, the AMR algorithm requires much less processing time, when compared with a uniform mesh algorithm.This article was processed using Springer-Verlag T_EX Shock Waves macro package 1.0 and the AMS fonts, developed by the American Mathematical Society.     

全自动自适应网格细化

本文利用弹塑性误差估计模型，预示出金属成形数值模拟过程中网格细化时新网格尺寸，提出补角法修正锻件边界构形并利用三次Ｂ样条统一表达边界构形，实现了对边界细化并进而产生自适应细化网格。     

Simulation of sharp gas–liquid interface using VOF method and adaptive grid local refinement around the interface

The volume of fluid (VOF) method is used to perform two‐phase simulations (gas–liquid). The governing Navier–Stokes conservation equations of the flow field are numerically solved on two‐dimensional axisymmetric or three‐dimensional unstructured grids, using Cartesian velocity components, following the finite volume approximation and a pressure correction method. A new method of adaptive grid local refinement is developed in order to enhance the accuracy of the predictions, to capture the sharp gas–liquid interface and to speed up the calculations. Results are compared with experimental measurements in order to assess the efficiency of the method. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

自适应多重网格有限元网格生成器研制

基于协调三角形剖分算法、分子表数据结构和Ｚｉｅｎｋｉｅｗｉｃｚ－Ｚｈｕ误差估计方法，本文研制出适用于自适应多重网格有限元的网格生成器。该网格生成器可对复杂的区域进行自适应加密。当荷载作用边界随时间变化及在动力荷载作用下，网格生成器可退化与再加密网格。     

Anisotropic mesh refinement for discontinuous Galerkin methods in two‐dimensional aerodynamic flow simulations

We derive and implement two types of anisotropic indicators which can be used within an anisotropic refinement algorithm for second but also for higher‐order discontinuous Galerkin discretizations. Although the first type of indicator employs the possible inter‐element discontinuities of the discrete functions, the second type of indicator estimates the approximation error in terms of second but possibly also higher‐order derivatives. We implement a simple extension of these indicators to systems of equations which performs similar to the so‐called metric intersection used to combine the metric information of several solution components and is applicable to higher‐order discretizations as well. The anisotropic indicators are incorporated into an adaptive refinement algorithm which uses state‐of‐the‐art residual‐based or adjoint‐based indicators for goal‐oriented refinement to select the elements to be refined, whereas the anisotropic indicators determine which anisotropic case the selected elements shall be refined with. We demonstrate the performance of the anisotropic refinement algorithm for sub‐, trans‐ and supersonic, inviscid and viscous compressible flows around a NACA0012 airfoil. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reordering and incomplete preconditioning in serial and parallel adaptive mesh refinement and coarsening flow solutions

The effects of reordering the unknowns on the convergence of incomplete factorization preconditioned Krylov subspace methods are investigated. Of particular interest is the resulting preconditioned iterative solver behavior when adaptive mesh refinement and coarsening (AMR/C) are utilized for serial or distributed parallel simulations. As representative schemes, we consider the familiar reverse Cuthill–McKee and quotient minimum degree algorithms applied with incomplete factorization preconditioners to CG and GMRES solvers. In the parallel distributed case, reordering is applied to local subdomains for block ILU preconditioning, and subdomains are repartitioned dynamically as mesh adaptation proceeds. Numerical studies for representative applications are conducted using the object‐oriented AMR/C software system libMesh linked to the PETSc solver library. Serial tests demonstrate that global unknown reordering and incomplete factorization preconditioning can reduce the number of iterations and improve serial CPU time in AMR/C computations. Parallel experiments indicate that local reordering for subdomain block preconditioning associated with dynamic repartitioning because of AMR/C leads to an overall reduction in processing time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive mesh refinement and coarsening for aerodynamic flow simulations

A new mesh refinement technique for unstructured grids is discussed. The new technique presents the important advantage of maintaining the original grid skewness, thanks to the capability of handling hanging nodes. The paper also presents an interpretation of MacCormack's method in an unstructured grid context. Results for a transonic convergent–divergent nozzle, for a convergent nozzle with a supersonic entrance and for transonic flow over a NACA 0012 airfoil are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive mesh refinement for simulating fluid-structure interaction using a sharp interface immersed boundary method

In this article, adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is performed to simulate flow around both stationary and moving boundaries. The finite-difference approach is applied along with a sharp interface immersed boundary (IB) method. The Lagrangian polynomial is employed to facilitate the interpolation from a coarse to a fine grid level, while a weighted-average formula is used to transfer variables inversely. To save memory, the finest grid is only generated in the local areas close to the wall boundary, and the mesh is dynamically reconstructed based on the location of the wall boundary. The Navier-Stokes equations are numerically solved through the second-order central difference scheme in space and the third-order Runge-Kutta time integration. Flow around a circular cylinder rotating in a square domain is firstly simulated to examine the accuracy and convergence rate. Then three cases are investigated to test the validity of the present method: flow past a stationary circular cylinder at low Reynolds numbers, flow past a forced oscillating circular cylinder in the transverse direction at various frequencies, and a free circular cylinder subjected to vortex-induced vibration in two degrees of freedom. Computational results agree well with these in the literature and the flow fields are smooth around the interface of different refinement levels. The effect of refinement level has also been evaluated. In addition, a study for the computational efficiency shows that the AMR approach is helpful to reduce the total node number and speed up the time integration, which could prompt the application of the IB method when a great near-wall spatial resolution is required.     

Modelling of high-pressure dense diesel sprays with adaptive local grid refinement

An Eulerian–Lagrangian fluid dynamics model simulating the development of dense liquid plumes formed during injection of fuels against compressed air is described and assessed against experimental data. The numerical model employs an adaptive local grid refinement methodology combined with a calculation procedure distributing the mass, momentum and energy exchanged between the liquid and gaseous phases in the numerical cells found in the vicinity of the moving droplets. The use of appropriate weighting functions resolves numerical as well as physical problems realised when the interaction volume available between the two phases is limited to the cell-containing parcel, whose volume may become comparable to that of the dispersed phase. Calculation of ‘virtual’ cell properties provide better estimates for the flow variables realised by the droplets crossing cells in the wake of those upstream and allows for larger time steps to be employed in the solution of the carrier phase conservation equations. The results suggest that the proposed methodology offers significant improvements compared to the standard Lagrangian one frequently adopted in simulation of combustion systems, without the need to use Eulerian flow models in dense spray regions.     

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.     

Finite element analysis of filling stage in die‐casting process using marker surface method and adaptive grid refinement technique

The marker surface method and the adaptive grid refinement technique have been applied to the three‐dimensional (3‐D) finite element analysis of the filling stage in the die‐casting process. Especially, the marker surface plugging technique and the marker surface regeneration technique incorporated in the marker surface method have been proposed for the efficient analysis of 3‐D practical problems. Through the marker surface plugging technique, new parts of marker surface are effective lycreated in order to eliminate the gaps between the parts of marker surface or between the edge of marker surface and cavity wall. By using the marker surface regeneration technique, the marker surface including a great number of marker elements is recreated on the basis of its original shape in order to decrease the number of marker elements and computational time. A3‐D example used as the benchmark test and a typical industrial problem of the die‐casting process have been analysed. The numerical results have been in good agreement with the experimental results and the efficiency of the adaptive grid refinement technique has been verified. It has been shown that the proposed techniques incorporated in the marker surface method and the adaptive grid refinement technique can be effectively applied to general industrial problems. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive mesh refinement and load balancing based on multi-level block-structured Cartesian mesh

We developed a framework for a distributed-memory parallel computer that enables dynamic data management for adaptive mesh refinement and load balancing. We employed simple data structure of the building cube method (BCM) where a computational domain is divided into multi-level cubic domains and each cube has the same number of grid points inside, realising a multi-level block-structured Cartesian mesh. Solution adaptive mesh refinement, which works efficiently with the help of the dynamic load balancing, was implemented by dividing cubes based on mesh refinement criteria. The framework was investigated with the Laplace equation in terms of adaptive mesh refinement, load balancing and the parallel efficiency. It was then applied to the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations to simulate a turbulent flow around a sphere. We considered wall-adaptive cube refinement where a non-dimensional wall distance y⁺ near the sphere is used for a criterion of mesh refinement. The result showed the load imbalance due to y⁺ adaptive mesh refinement was corrected by the present approach. To utilise the BCM framework more effectively, we also tested a cube-wise algorithm switching where an explicit and implicit time integration schemes are switched depending on the local Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition in each cube.     

Application of local grid refinement to vortex motion due to a solitary wave passing over a submerged body

A numerical method based on the streamfunction–vorticity formulation is applied to simulate the two‐dimensional, transient, viscous flow with a free surface. This method successfully uses the locally refined grid in an inviscid–viscous model to explore the processes of vortex formation due to a solitary wave passing over a submerged bluff body. The two particular bodies considered here are a blunt rectangular block and a semicircular cylinder. Flow visualization to track dyelines is carried out in the laboratory in order to confirm the validity of the numerical results. Numerical results examined by different grid configurations ensure the locally refined grid to be useful in practical application. Flow phenomena, including the vortex motion and wave patterns during non‐linear wave–structure interaction, are also discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive mesh refinement for high‐resolution finite element schemes

New a posteriori error indicators based on edgewise slope‐limiting are presented. The L₂‐norm is employed to measure the error of the solution gradient in both global and element sense. A second‐order Newton–Cotes formula is utilized in order to decompose the local gradient error from a ??₁ finite element solution into a sum of edge contributions. The slope values at edge midpoints are interpolated from the two adjacent vertices. Traditional techniques to recover (superconvergent) nodal gradient values from consistent finite element slopes are reviewed. The deficiencies of standard smoothing procedures—L₂‐projection and the Zienkiewicz–Zhu patch recovery—as applied to nonsmooth solutions are illustrated for simple academic configurations. The recovered gradient values are corrected by applying a slope limiter edge‐by‐edge so as to satisfy geometric constraints. The direct computation of slopes at edge midpoints by means of limited averaging of adjacent gradient values is proposed as an inexpensive alternative. Numerical tests for various solution profiles in one and two space dimensions are presented to demonstrate the potential of this postprocessing procedure as an error indicator. Finally, it is used to perform adaptive mesh refinement for compressible inviscid flow simulations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of multi-headed detonations in oxygen-aluminum mixtures using an adaptive mesh refinement

Abstract. Two-dimensional numerical simulations of detonations in two-phase lean mixtures of aluminum particles and pure oxygen have been performed. The computational procedure adopts an adaptive mesh refinement methodology in order to increase spatial resolution in the most interesting parts of the flow field. A one-step heterogeneous reaction describes the evaporation and combustion of aluminum. Depending on the gas-phase temperature, the combustion product is aluminum oxide or aluminum monoxide. The results show that the heterogeneous detonations resemble gaseous single-phase ones although the scale of the phenomena is very different. The detonation of aluminum dust evolves into the 2-headed mode of propagation with the characteristic detonation cell width equal to cm. For aluminum dust the cellular structure is much finer. The detonation initially propagates in the 11-headed mode with the characteristic cell width equal to cm and evolves into the 8.5-headed mode with the characteristic cell size $\lambda_{\rm cell}$ equal to cm. Received 7 May 2001 / Accepted 25 March 2002 Published online 23 January 2003 Correspondence to: K. Benkiewicz (e-mail: kbenk@cow.me.aoyama.ac.jp)     

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.     

Application of adaptive mesh refinement method to complex flows in clean rooms

The adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method is developed for three-dimensional turbulent complex flows in clean rooms using the finite volume method with a collocated grid arrangement. Clean rooms have many interesting and complex flow characteristics especially the secondary flows and the recirculation regions. The accurate numerical solution of the flows is important for the efficient design of clean rooms. The use of the conventional uniform grid requires such a high computational time and data storage capacity that they make computational fluid dynamics (CFD) less attractive for the design optimization. The AMR method is, therefore, applied by using the fine grid only in the required regions and using the coarse grid in the other regions. The velocity is chosen as the main parameter for the grid refinement because it is the most influential parameter in clean rooms. The results show that the present AMR method can reduce the computational time by eight times and the data storage requirement is only 37% of that using the conventional method, while the same order of accuracy can be maintained. The present AMR method is, therefore, proved to be a promising technique for solving three-dimensional turbulent complex flows in clean rooms.