High-order ALE method for the Navier–Stokes equations on a moving hybrid unstructured mesh using flux reconstruction method

The flux reconstruction (FR) formulation can unify several popular discontinuous basis high-order methods for fluid dynamics, including the discontinuous Galerkin method, in a simple, efficient form. An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) extension to the high-order FR scheme is developed here for moving mesh fluid flow problems. The ALE Navier–Stokes equations are derived by introducing a grid velocity. The conservation law are spatially discretised on hybrid unstructured meshes using Huynh’s scheme (Huynh 2007) on anisotropic elements (quadrilaterals) and using Correction Procedure via Reconstruction scheme on isotropic elements (triangles). The temporal discretisation uses both explicit and implicit treatments. The mesh movement is described by node positions given as a time series, instead of an analytical formula. The geometric conservation law is tested using free stream preservation problem. An isentropic vortex propagation test case is performed to show the high-order accuracy of the developed method on both moving and fixed hybrid meshes. Flow around an oscillating cylinder shows the capability of the method to solve moving boundary viscous flow problems, with the numeric method further verified by comparison of the result on a smoothly deforming mesh and a rigid moving mesh.     

High‐order implicit time integration for unsteady incompressible flows

The spatial discretization of unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is stated as a system of differential algebraic equations, corresponding to the conservation of momentum equation plus the constraint due to the incompressibility condition. Asymptotic stability of Runge–Kutta and Rosenbrock methods applied to the solution of the resulting index‐2 differential algebraic equations system is analyzed. A critical comparison of Rosenbrock, semi‐implicit, and fully implicit Runge–Kutta methods is performed in terms of order of convergence and stability. Numerical examples, considering a discontinuous Galerkin formulation with piecewise solenoidal approximation, demonstrate the applicability of the approaches and compare their performance with classical methods for incompressible flows. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A sensitivity analysis on the parameter of the GLS method for a second‐gradient theory of incompressible flow

Using a non‐conforming C⁰‐interior penalty method and the Galerkin least‐square approach, we develop a continuous–discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for discretizing fourth‐order incompressible flow problems. The formulation is weakly coercive for spaces that fail to satisfy the inf‐sup condition and consider discontinuous basis functions for the pressure field. We consider the results of a stability analysis through a lemma which indicates that there exists an optimal or quasi‐optimal least‐square stability parameter that depends on the polynomial degree used to interpolate the velocity and pressure fields, and on the geometry of the finite element in the mesh. We provide several numerical experiments illustrating such dependence, as well as the robustness of the method to deal with arbitrary basis functions for velocity and pressure, and the ability to stabilize large pressure gradients. We believe the results provided in this paper contribute for establishing a paradigm for future studies of the parameter of the Galerkin least square method for second‐gradient theory of incompressible flow problems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A γ‐DGBGK scheme for compressible multi‐fluids

The paper presents a Discontinuous Galerkin γ‐BGK (γ‐DGBGK) method for compressible multicomponent flow simulations by coupling the discontinuous Galerkin method with a γ‐BGK scheme based on WENO limiters. In this γ‐DGBGK method, the construction of the flux in the DG method is based on the kinetic scheme which not only couples the convective and dissipative terms together, but also includes both discontinuous and continuous terms in the flux formulation at cell interfaces. WENO limiters are used to obtain uniform high‐order accuracy and sharp non‐oscillatory shock transition, and time accuracy obtained by integration for the flux function at the cell interface. Numerical examples in one and two space dimensions are presented to illustrate the robust and accuracy of the present scheme. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of compressible multifluid flows using an adaptive positivity-preserving RKDG-GFM approach

The Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin method together with a refined real-ghost fluid method is incorporated into an adaptive mesh refinement environment for solving compressible multifluid flows, where the level set method is used to capture the moving material interface. To ensure that the Riemann problem is exactly along the normal direction of the material interface, a simple and efficient modification is introduced into the original real-ghost fluid method for constructing the interfacial Riemann problem, and the initial conditions of the Riemann problem are obtained directly from the solution polynomials of the discontinuous Galerkin finite element space. In addition, a positivity-preserving limiter is introduced into the Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin method to suppress the failure of preserving positivity of density or pressure for the problems involving strong shock wave or shock interaction with material interface. For interfacial cells in adaptive mesh refinement, the data transfer between different grid levels is achieved by using a L² projection approach along with the least squares fitting. Various numerical cases, including multifluid shock tubes, underwater explosions, and shock-induced collapse of a underwater air bubble, are computed to assess the capability of the present adaptive positivity-preserving RKDG-GFM approach, and the simulated results show that the present approach is quite robust and can provide relatively reasonable results across a wide variety of flow regimes, even for problems involving strong shock wave or shock wave impacting high acoustic impedance mismatch material interface.     

Discontinuous Galerkin finite element method applied to the coupled unsteady Stokes/Cahn-Hilliard equations

Two-phase flows driven by the interfacial dynamics are studied by tracking implicitly interfaces in the framework of the Cahn-Hilliard theory. The fluid dynamics is described by the Stokes equations with an additional source term in the momentum equation taking into account the capillary forces. A discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the coupled Stokes/Cahn-Hilliard equations. The Cahn-Hilliard equation is treated as a system of two coupled equations corresponding to the advection-diffusion equation for the phase field and a nonlinear elliptic equation for the chemical potential. First, the variational formulation of the Cahn-Hilliard equation is presented. A numerical test is achieved showing the optimal order in error bounds. Second, the variational formulation in discontinuous Galerkin finite element approach of the Stokes equations is recalled, in which the same space of approximation is used for the velocity and the pressure with an adequate stabilization technique. The rates of convergence in space and time are evaluated leading to an optimal order in error bounds in space and a second order in time with a backward differentiation formula at the second order. Numerical tests devoted to two-phase flows are provided on ellipsoidal droplet retraction, on the capillary rising of a liquid in a tube, and on the wetting drop over a horizontal solid wall.     

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the Navier–Stokes equations

The foundations of a new discontinuous Galerkin method for simulating compressible viscous flows with shocks on standard unstructured grids are presented in this paper. The new method is based on a discontinuous Galerkin formulation both for the advective and the diffusive contributions. High‐order accuracy is achieved by using a recently developed hierarchical spectral basis. This basis is formed by combining Jacobi polynomials of high‐order weights written in a new co‐ordinate system. It retains a tensor‐product property, and provides accurate numerical quadrature. The formulation is conservative, and monotonicity is enforced by appropriately lowering the basis order and performing h‐refinement around discontinuities. Convergence results are shown for analytical two‐ and three‐dimensional solutions of diffusion and Navier–Stokes equations that demonstrate exponential convergence of the new method, even for highly distorted elements. Flow simulations for subsonic, transonic and supersonic flows are also presented that demonstrate discretization flexibility using hp‐type refinement. Unlike other high‐order methods, the new method uses standard finite volume grids consisting of arbitrary triangulizations and tetrahedrizations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stabilization for three‐dimensional discontinuous Galerkin discretizations applied to nonhydrostatic atmospheric simulations

A discontinuous Galerkin nonhydrostatic atmospheric model is used for two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional simulations. There is a wide range of timescales to be dealt with. To do so, two different implicit/explicit time discretizations are implemented. A stabilization, based upon a reduced‐order discretization of the gravity term, is introduced to ensure the balance between pressure and gravity effects. While not affecting significantly the convergence properties of the scheme, this approach allows the simulation of anisotropic flows without generating spurious oscillations, as it happens for a classical discontinuous Galerkin discretization. This approach is shown to be less diffusive than usual spatial filters. A stability analysis demonstrates that the use of this modified scheme discards the instability associated with the usual discretization. Validation against analytical solutions is performed, confirming the good convergence and stability properties of the scheme. Numerical results demonstrate the attractivity of the discontinuous Galerkin method with implicit/explicit time integration for large‐scale atmospheric flows. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An agglomeration‐based adaptive discontinuous Galerkin method for compressible flows

In this work, we exploit the possibility to devise discontinuous Galerkin discretizations over polytopic grids to perform grid adaptation strategies on the basis of agglomeration coarsening of a fine grid obtained via standard unstructured mesh generators. The adaptive agglomeration process is here driven by an adjoint‐based error estimator. We investigate several strategies for converting the error field estimated solving the adjoint problem into an agglomeration factor field that is an indication of the number of elements of the fine grid that should be clustered together to form an agglomerated element. As a result the size of agglomerated elements is optimized for the achievement of the best accuracy for given grid size with respect to the target quantities. To demonstrate the potential of this strategy we consider problem‐specific outputs of interest typical of aerodynamics, eg, the lift and drag coefficients in the context of inviscid and viscous flows test cases.     

High-order DG solvers for underresolved turbulent incompressible flows: A comparison of L2 and H(div) methods

The accurate numerical simulation of turbulent incompressible flows is a challenging topic in computational fluid dynamics. For discretisation methods to be robust in the underresolved regime, mass conservation and energy stability are key ingredients to obtain robust and accurate discretisations. Recently, two approaches have been proposed in the context of high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretisations that address these aspects differently. On the one hand, standard L²-based DG discretisations enforce mass conservation and energy stability weakly by the use of additional stabilisation terms. On the other hand, pointwise divergence-free H(div)-conforming approaches ensure exact mass conservation and energy stability by the use of tailored finite element function spaces. This work raises the question whether and to which extent these two approaches are equivalent when applied to underresolved turbulent flows. This comparative study highlights similarities and differences of these two approaches. The numerical results emphasise that both discretisation strategies are promising for underresolved simulations of turbulent flows due to their inherent dissipation mechanisms.     

Calculation of laminar recirculating flows using a local non-staggered grid refinement system

A grid-embedding technique for the solution of two-dimensional incompressible flows governed by the Navier-Stokes equations is presented. A finite volume method with collocated primitive variables is employed to ensure conservation at the interfaces of embedding grids as well as global conservation. The discretized equations are solved simultaneously for the whole domain, providing a strong coupling between regions of different refinement. The formulation presented herein is applicable to uniform or non-uniform Cartesian meshes. The method was applied to the solution of two scalar transport equations, to cavity flows driven by body and shear forces and to a sudden plane contraction flow. The numerical predictions are compared with the exact solutions when available and with experimental data. The results show that neither the convergence rate nor the stability of the method is affected by the presence of embedded grids. Embedded grids provide a better distribution of grid nodes over the computational domain and consequently the solution accuracy was improved. The grid-embedding technique proved also that significant savings in computing time could be achieved.     

A spectral‐element discontinuous Galerkin thermal lattice Boltzmann method for conjugate heat transfer applications

We present a spectral‐element discontinuous Galerkin thermal lattice Boltzmann method for fluid–solid conjugate heat transfer applications. Using the discrete Boltzmann equation, we propose a numerical scheme for conjugate heat transfer applications on unstructured, non‐uniform grids. We employ a double‐distribution thermal lattice Boltzmann model to resolve flows with variable Prandtl (Pr) number. Based upon its finite element heritage, the spectral‐element discontinuous Galerkin discretization provides an effective means to model and investigate thermal transport in applications with complex geometries. Our solutions are represented by the tensor product basis of the one‐dimensional Legendre–Lagrange interpolation polynomials. A high‐order discretization is employed on body‐conforming hexahedral elements with Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre quadrature nodes. Thermal and hydrodynamic bounce‐back boundary conditions are imposed via the numerical flux formulation that arises because of the discontinuous Galerkin approach. As a result, our scheme does not require tedious extrapolation at the boundaries, which may cause loss of mass conservation. We compare solutions of the proposed scheme with an analytical solution for a solid–solid conjugate heat transfer problem in a 2D annulus and illustrate the capture of temperature continuities across interfaces for conductivity ratio γ > 1. We also investigate the effect of Reynolds (Re) and Grashof (Gr) number on the conjugate heat transfer between a heat‐generating solid and a surrounding fluid. Steady‐state results are presented for Re = 5?40 and Gr = 10⁵?10⁶. In each case, we discuss the effect of Re and Gr on the heat flux (i.e. Nusselt number Nu) at the fluid–solid interface. Our results are validated against previous studies that employ finite‐difference and continuous spectral‐element methods to solve the Navier–Stokes equations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multirate time stepping for accelerating explicit discontinuous Galerkin computations with application to geophysical flows

This paper presents multirate explicit time‐stepping schemes for solving partial differential equations with discontinuous Galerkin elements in the framework of Large‐scale marine flows. It addresses the variability of the local stable time steps by gathering the mesh elements in appropriate groups. The real challenge is to develop methods exhibiting mass conservation and consistency. Two multirate approaches, based on standard explicit Runge–Kutta methods, are analyzed. They are well suited and optimized for the discontinuous Galerkin framework. The significant speedups observed for the hydrodynamic application of the Great Barrier Reef confirm the theoretical expectations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A volume-tracking method for incompressible multifluid flows with large density variations

A numerical technique (FGVT) for solving the time-dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in fluid flows with large density variations is presented for staggered grids. Mass conservation is based on a volume tracking method and incorporates a piecewise-linear interface reconstruction on a grid twice as fine as the velocity–pressure grid. It also uses a special flux-corrected transport algorithm for momentum advection, a multigrid algorithm for solving a pressure-correction equation and a surface tension algorithm that is robust and stable. In principle, the method conserves both mass and momentum exactly, and maintains extremely sharp fluid interfaces. Applications of the numerical method to prediction of two-dimensional bubble rise in an inclined channel and a bubble bursting through an interface are presented. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A non‐conforming least‐squares finite element method for incompressible fluid flow problems

In this paper, we develop least‐squares finite element methods (LSFEMs) for incompressible fluid flows with improved mass conservation. Specifically, we formulate a new locally conservative LSFEM for the velocity–vorticity–pressure Stokes system, which uses a piecewise divergence‐free basis for the velocity and standard C⁰ elements for the vorticity and the pressure. The new method, which we term dV‐VP improves upon our previous discontinuous stream‐function formulation in several ways. The use of a velocity basis, instead of a stream function, simplifies the imposition and implementation of the velocity boundary condition, and eliminates second‐order terms from the least‐squares functional. Moreover, the size of the resulting discrete problem is reduced because the piecewise solenoidal velocity element is approximately one‐half of the dimension of a stream‐function element of equal accuracy. In two dimensions, the discontinuous stream‐function LSFEM [1] motivates modification of our functional, which further improves the conservation of mass. We briefly discuss the extension of this modification to three dimensions. Computational studies demonstrate that the new formulation achieves optimal convergence rates and yields high conservation of mass. We also propose a simple diagonal preconditioner for the dV‐VP formulation, which significantly reduces the condition number of the LSFEM problem. Published 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

A discontinuous Galerkin‐based sharp‐interface method to simulate three‐dimensional compressible two‐phase flow

A numerical method for the simulation of compressible two‐phase flows is presented in this paper. The sharp‐interface approach consists of several components: a discontinuous Galerkin solver for compressible fluid flow, a level‐set tracking algorithm to follow the movement of the interface and a coupling of both by a ghost‐fluid approach with use of a local Riemann solver at the interface. There are several novel techniques used: the discontinuous Galerkin scheme allows locally a subcell resolution to enhance the interface resolution and an interior finite volume Total Variation Diminishing (TVD) approximation at the interface. The level‐set equation is solved by the same discontinuous Galerkin scheme. To obtain a very good approximation of the interface curvature, the accuracy of the level‐set field is improved and smoothed by an additional P_NP_M‐reconstruction. The capabilities of the method for the simulation of compressible two‐phase flow are demonstrated for a droplet at equilibrium, an oscillating ellipsoidal droplet, and a shock‐droplet interaction problem at Mach 3. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Numerical comparison of hybridized discontinuous Galerkin and finite volume methods for incompressible flow

In this study, a hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method is presented for solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equation. In our formulation, the convective part is linearized using a Picard iteration, for which there exists a necessary criterion for convergence. We show that our novel hybridized implementation can be used as an alternative method for solving a range of problems in the field of incompressible fluid dynamics. We demonstrate this by comparing the performance of our method with standard finite volume solvers, specifically the well‐established finite volume method of second order in space, such as the icoFoam and simpleFoam of the OpenFOAM package for three typical fluid problems. These are the Taylor–Green vortex, the 180‐degree fence case and the DFG benchmark. Our careful comparison yields convincing evidence for the use of hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method as a competitive alternative because of their high accuracy and better stability properties. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Jump-reduced immersed boundary method for compressible flow

The main challenge of the immersed boundary approach is the proper enforcement of boundary conditions on the body interface without any spurious oscillations, which are induced by the nongrid-conforming boundary configuration. In this study, a new sharp interface ghost-cell immersed boundary method (IBM) is proposed for obtaining solutions near the immersed boundary with a high order of accuracy. The main idea is “jump-reduction” instead of jump-correction across the boundary interface by combining the ghost-cell method with the flow reconstruction method. In the proposed IBM, the unknown values at the three points, that is, boundary points, ghost cell, and flow field reconstruction point are solved simultaneously using equations formulated by the moving least-squares interpolation method. It is a hybrid of ghost-cell and flow reconstruction methods, correlated with interface values, which result in a reduced jump-discontinuity. In addition, a discontinuity-distinguishing algorithm is introduced so that the low-order method is applied only to the discontinuous or non smooth region, while the current high-order method is applied elsewhere. Reduced jump-discontinuity of the proposed IBM has been verified in both subsonic and supersonic flow using fundamental benchmark problems. We observed that the reduced jump-discontinuity does not hamper the mass conservation and shows even better conservation property than conventional methods due to the nonoscillatory performance in smooth regions. The numerical results further confirm the ability of the proposed IBM to solve complex flow physics with high-order accuracy and improved stability.