Facilitating the Adoption of Unstructured High-Order Methods Amongst a Wider Community of Fluid Dynamicists

Abstract

Theoretical studies and numerical experiments suggest that unstructured high-order methods can provide solutions to otherwise intractable fluid flow problems within complex ge- ometries. However, it remains the case that existing high-order schemes are generally less robust and more complex to implement than their low-order counterparts. These issues, in conjunction with difficulties generating high-order meshes, have limited the adoption of high-order techniques in both academia (where the use of low-order schemes remains widespread) and industry (where the use of low-order schemes is ubiquitous). In this short review, issues that have hitherto pre- vented the use of high-order methods amongst a non-specialist community are identified, and cur- rent efforts to overcome these issues are discussed. Attention is focused on four areas, namely the generation of unstructured high-order meshes, the development of simple and efficient time integration schemes, the development of robust and accurate shock capturing algorithms, and fi- nally the development of high-order methods that are intuitive and simple to implement. With regards to this final area, particular attention is focused on the recently proposed flux reconstruc- tion approach, which allows various well known high-order schemes (such as nodal discontinuous Galerkin methods and spectral difference methods) to be cast within a single unifying framework. It should be noted that due to the experience of the authors the review is directed somewhat to- wards aerodynamic applications and compressible flow. However, many of the discussions have a wider applicability. Moreover, the tone of the review is intended to be generally accessible, such that an extended scientific community can gain insight into factors currently pacing the adoption of unstructured high-order methods.