An adaptive discretization of compressible flow using a multitude of moving Cartesian grids

Abstract

We present a novel method for simulating compressible flow on a multitude of Cartesian grids that can rotate and translate. Following previous work, we split the time integration into an explicit step for advection followed by an implicit solve for the pressure. A second order accurate flux based scheme is devised to handle advection on each moving Cartesian grid using an effective characteristic velocity that accounts for the grid motion. In order to avoid the stringent time step restriction imposed by very fine grids, we propose strategies that allow for a fluid velocity CFL number larger than 1. The stringent time step restriction related to the sound speed is alleviated by formulating an implicit linear system in order to find a pressure consistent with the equation of state. This implicit linear system crosses overlapping Cartesian grid boundaries by utilizing local Voronoi meshes to connect the various degrees of freedom obtaining a symmetric positive–definite system. Since a straightforward application of this technique contains an inherent central differencing which can result in spurious oscillations, we introduce a new high order diffusion term similar in spirit to ENO-LLF but solved for implicitly in order to avoid any associated time step restrictions. The method is conservative on each grid, as well as globally conservative on the background grid that contains all other grids. Moreover, a conservative interpolation operator is devised for conservatively remapping values in order to keep them consistent across different overlapping grids. Additionally, the method is extended to handle two-way solid fluid coupling in a monolithic fashion including cases (in the appendix) where solids in close proximity do not properly allow for grid based degrees of freedom in between them.