A mixed‐interpolation finite element method for incompressible thermal flows of electrically conducting fluids

A new mixed‐interpolation finite element method is presented for the two‐dimensional numerical simulation of incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows which involve convective heat transfer. The proposed method applies the nodal shape functions, which are locally defined in nine‐node elements, for the discretization of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations, and the vector shape functions, which are locally defined in four‐node elements, for the discretization of the electromagnetic field equations. The use of the vector shape functions allows the solenoidal condition on the magnetic field to be automatically satisfied in each four‐node element. In addition, efficient approximation procedures for the calculation of the integrals in the discretized equations are adopted to achieve high‐speed computation. With the use of the proposed numerical scheme, MHD channel flow and MHD natural convection under a constant applied magnetic field are simulated at different Hartmann numbers. The accuracy and robustness of the method are verified through these numerical tests in which both undistorted and distorted meshes are employed for comparison of numerical solutions. Furthermore, it is shown that the calculation speed for the proposed scheme is much higher compared with that for a conventional numerical integration scheme under the condition of almost the same memory consumption. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Settling velocity of quasi-neutrally-buoyant inertial particlesVitesse de sédimentation de particules inertielles dotées de flottabilité quasi neutre

We investigate the sedimentation properties of quasi-neutrally buoyant inertial particles carried by incompressible zero-mean fluid flows. We obtain generic formulae for the terminal velocity in generic space-and-time periodic (or steady) flows, along with further information for flows endowed with some degree of spatial symmetry such as odd parity in the vertical direction. These expressions consist in space-time integrals of auxiliary quantities that satisfy partial differential equations of the advection–diffusion–reaction type, which can be solved at least numerically, since our scheme implies a huge reduction of the problem dimensionality from the full phase space to the classical physical space.     

A novel method to calculate the pressure interaction between dust and fluid using SPH

Unstable behavior of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) dust particles, such as clumping or fingering under certain conditions, has been reported by several researchers who have conducted studies on dusty fluid SPH. The simulation results in this study show that this instability is numerical, and the instability is mainly attributable to the ill‐interpolated pressure gradient in the interaction term between 2 phases. In this paper, we introduce a new method to calculate the pressure force interaction term between dust and fluid particles. The key idea is to first interpolate the pressure gradient at SPH fluid particles and then use the values to calculate the pressure gradient at SPH dust particles, in a consecutive manner. To compare the new method with the existing method, we first conducted an interpolation of pressure gradient at hydrostatic equilibrium under gravity to estimate any error. The results show that the new method is more accurate. We then conducted additional numerical tests, namely, dust‐liquid counterflow, sedimentation in a confined tank, and sedimentation in the presence of turbulence. The unphysical unstable behavior of SPH dust particles such as clumping or fingering was significantly reduced in the new method. The results also show that the instability becomes more significant when using the existing method especially for the case when simulating a flow with relatively high concentration of dust or for the case in which inertia dominates the dynamics of dust particles. Especially, in those cases, the existing method should be avoided, and the newly proposed method is highly recommended.     

Preemptive benchmarking problem: An approach for official statistics in small areas

National Statistical Agencies and Autonomous Institutions are extremely interested in using information from those areas that are actually smaller than the actual areas for which a survey is initially designed. As such, small area estimation and its application are valuable when conducting research on Official Statistics. A wide range of different methods are available which provide estimations to small area levels, being reasonable to guarantee that they add up to the published design-based estimations in a large area that includes these small areas. This requirement is known as benchmarking. Different algorithms, all based on distances between original data and modified data, are introduced in this paper, with the intention of satisfying the benchmarking property. We provide rules to apply these proposed calibrated methods according to user criteria. Goal programming with priorities methodology is used to represent user preferences. The result is a collection of different interdependent network flow problems. Some of these problems require the development of ad hoc methods. The introduced methods are assessed by a Monte Carlo simulation study using the Spanish Labour Force Survey in the Canary Islands. The results also show that the consistency of the estimator is independent of the used calibrated methods, but it does depend on the benchmarking weights.     

Spectral-based simulations of particle-laden turbulent flows

In this paper, we discuss the application of spectral-based methods to simulation of particle-laden turbulent flows. The primary focus of the article is on the past and ongoing works by the authors. The particles are tracked in Lagrangian framework, while direct numerical simulation (DNS) or large-eddy simulation (LES) is used to describe the carrier-phase flow field. Two different spectral methods are considered, namely Fourier pseudo-spectral method and Chebyshev multidomain spectral method. The pseudo-spectral method is used for the simulation of homogeneous turbulence. DNS of both incompressible and compressible flows with one- and two-way couplings are reported. For LES of particle-laden flows, two new models, developed by the authors, account for the effect of sub-grid fluctuations on the dispersed phase. The Chebyshev multidomain method is employed for the works on inhomogeneous flows. A number of canonical flows are discussed, including flow past a square cylinder, channel flow and flow over backward-facing step. Ongoing research on particle-laden LES of inhomogeneous flows is briefly reported.     

A local domain‐free discretization method to simulate three‐dimensional compressible inviscid flows

In this paper, the domain‐free discretization method (DFD) is extended to simulate the three‐dimensional compressible inviscid flows governed by Euler equations. The discretization strategy of DFD is that the discrete form of governing equations at an interior point may involve some points outside the solution domain. The functional values at the exterior‐dependent points are updated at each time step by extrapolation along the wall normal direction in conjunction with the wall boundary conditions and the simplified momentum equation in the vicinity of the wall. Spatial discretization is achieved with the help of the finite element Galerkin approximation. The concept of ‘osculating plane’ is adopted, with which the local DFD can be easily implemented for the three‐dimensional case. Geometry‐adaptive tetrahedral mesh is employed for three‐dimensional calculations. Finally, we validate the DFD method for three‐dimensional compressible inviscid flow simulations by computing transonic flows over the ONERA M6 wing. Comparison with the reference experimental data and numerical results on boundary‐conforming grid was displayed and the results show that the present DFD results compare very well with the reference data. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conservation of circulation in SPH for 2D free‐surface flows

In this paper, we study how accurately the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) scheme accounts for the conservation and the generation of vorticity and circulation, in a low viscosity, weakly compressible, barotropic fluid in the context of free‐surface flows. We consider a number of simple examples to clarify the processes involved and the accuracy of the simulations. The first example is a differentially rotating fluid where the integration path for the circulation becomes progressively more complicated, whereas the structure of the velocity field remains simple. The second example is the collision of two rectangular regions of fluid. We show that SPH accurately predicts the time variation of the circulation as well as the total vorticity for selected domains advected by the fluid. Finally, a breaking wave is considered. For such a problem we show how the dynamics of the vorticity generated by the breaking process is captured by the SPH model. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of Free-Surface Temperature Dispersion in Shallow Water Flows

We develop a lattice Boltzmann method for modeling free-surface temperature dispersion in the shallow water flows. The governing equations are derived from the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with assumptions of shallow water flows including bed frictions, eddy viscosity, wind shear stresses and Coriolis forces. The thermal effects are incorporated in the momentum equation by using a Boussinesq approximation. The dispersion of free-surface temperature is modelled by an advection-diffusion equation. Two distribution functions are used in the lattice Boltzmann method to recover the flow and temperature variables using the same lattice structure. Neither upwind discretization procedures nor Riemann problem solvers are needed in discretizing the shallow water equations. In addition, the source terms are straightforwardly included in the model without relying on well-balanced techniques to treat flux gradients and source terms. We validate the model for a class of problems with known analytical solutions and we also present numerical results for sea-surface temperature distribution in the Strait of Gibraltar.     

数值模拟界面流方法进展

用数值模拟方法研究界面流,对于工程设计和理论分析复杂流动都是非常重要的.单纯用现有的高分辨格式无法清晰定出流体界面,故此对界面必须进行特殊的处理,例如界面跟踪(front tracking)方法．本文对界面流的各种数值模拟方法进行了综述．这些方法包括锋面跟踪法、移动网格法、基於粒子法、边界积方法、连续对流格式、体积跟踪方法和水平集的方法．我们着重介绍了现阶段处理流体界面问题使用较多的方法:体积跟踪方法和水平集方法．同时我们也对各种方法的优缺点作了评述.