An implicit unified gas-kinetic wave–particle method for radiative transport process

Abstract

The unified gas-kinetic wave–particle method (UGKWP) has been developed for the multiscale gas, plasma, and multiphase flow transport processes for the past years. In this work, we propose an implicit UGKWP (IUGKWP) method to remove the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy time step constraint. Based on the local integral solution of the radiative transfer equation (RTE), the particle transport processes are categorized into the long-λ streaming process and the short-λ streaming process compared to a local physical characteristic time tp. In the construction of the IUGKWP method, the long-λ streaming process is tracked by the implicit Monte Carlo method; the short-λ streaming process is evolved by solving the implicit moment equations; and the photon distribution is closed by a local integral solution of RTE. In the IUGKWP method, the multiscale flux of radiation energy and the multiscale closure of photon distribution are constructed based on the local integral solution. The IUGKWP method preserves the second-order asymptotic expansion of RTE in the optically thick regime and adapts its computational complexity to the flow regime. The numerical dissipation is well controlled, and the teleportation error is significantly reduced in the optically thick regime. The computational complexity of the IUGKWP method decreases exponentially as the Knudsen number approaches zero, and the computational efficiency is remarkably improved in the optically thick regime. The IUGKWP is formulated on a generalized unstructured mesh, and multidimensional 2D and 3D algorithms are developed. Numerical tests are presented to validate the capability of IUGKWP in capturing the multiscale photon transport process. The algorithm and code will apply in the engineering applications of inertial confinement fusion.