Performance evaluation of flux-reconstruction schemes in the discrete unified gas-kinetic scheme for low-speed continuum flows

GPU implementation of the discrete unified gas kinetic scheme for low-speed isothermal flows

Boltzmann solvers face significant difficulty in simulating rarefied flows at high Knudsen numbers. In this flow regime, the gas distribution function is widely scattered and highly concentrated with a very steep slope in the particle velocity space. In order to capture the feature of such a flow, the Boltzmann solvers such as the Discrete Unified Gas Kinetic Scheme (DUGKS) discretize the particle velocity space with a very fine mesh (many discrete particle velocities) using the Discrete Velocity Method (DVM) due to which the load for computation becomes unendurable. In this paper, a Reduced Order Modeling (ROM) method is used to generate a reduced discrete velocity space for the DUGKS. More specifically, the discrete empirical interpolation method [S. Chaturantabut and D. C. Sorensen, SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 32, 2737–2764 (2010)] is used to select the dominant nodes in the original discrete velocity space to form a reduced discrete velocity space, which represents important dynamical characteristics. In this way, most grid points in the discrete velocity space, which are of negligible importance on the integration, are removed in practical computation, which yields a significant improvement in computational efficiency. The proposed ROM approach is not limited to a specific DVM-based solver. For illustration, in this paper, we developed the Reduced Order Modeling-based Discrete Unified Gas Kinetic Scheme (ROM-DUGKS) by applying the reduced velocity space to the conventional DUGKS. Validations are performed in both low-speed and hypersonic rarefied flows at various Knudsen numbers. The results show that the ROM-DUGKS is much more efficient than the original DUGKS while still maintaining high accuracy. This significant improvement in computational efficiency will unleash the potential of the DVM-based solvers such as the DUGKS for practical applications to rarefied flow problems.

Based on the Boltzmann-BGK (Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook) equation, in this paper a discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) is developed for low-speed isothermal flows. The DUGKS is a finite-volume scheme with the discretization of particle velocity space. After the introduction of two auxiliary distribution functions with the inclusion of collision effect, the DUGKS becomes a fully explicit scheme for the update of distribution function. Furthermore, the scheme is an asymptotic preserving method, where the time step is only determined by the Courant-Friedricks-Lewy condition in the continuum limit. Numerical results demonstrate that accurate solutions in both continuum and rarefied flow regimes can be obtained from the current DUGKS. The comparison between the DUGKS and the well-defined lattice Boltzmann equation method (D2Q9) is presented as well.

In this work, an improved discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) is proposed. Like the original DUGKS and the optimized DUGKS, the improved DUGKS uses trapezoidal rule for the integration of the collision term, and introduces two auxiliary distribution functions with the inclusion of collision effect. Different from the original DUGKS and the optimized DUGKS, the improved DUGKS uses rectangular rule to implicitly integrate the convection term, and adopts trapezoidal rule and Taylor expansion to introduce the distribution function at the node to evaluate the interface flux at the next time step, which can be considered as a new version of the optimized DUGKS with implicit treatment. Combining the benefits of the choice of integration method, the design of implicit scheme, and the construction of interface flux, numerical results demonstrate that the improved DUGKS has a much better numerical stability than the original DUGKS and the optimized DUGKS while still maintaining better accuracy and higher efficiency. In terms of computational efficiency, the improved DUGKS improves the efficiency by fast convergence and reducing the number of auxiliary points. Among the three kinds of DUGKS, the improved DUGKS requires the fewest iteration steps and the least calculation time to reach convergence. Moreover, with the increase of the number of grids, the iteration steps and computation time decrease more. In terms of accuracy, the improved DUGKS has some improvements. Numerical tests of Couette flow and Taylor-Green vortex flow show that the error between the results obtained by the improved DUGKS and the analytical solution is the least. In terms of numerical stability, the significant improvement of the improved DUGKS is shown. In numerical tests of Couette flow, Poiseuille flow, and lid-driven cavity flow, the original DUGKS and the optimized DUGKS do not converge with a low-resolution mesh and high Re number, but the improved DUGKS can still reach convergence while still maintaining good accuracy. The ratio of time step to relaxation time is about 8×10^{6} times larger than that of the original DUGKS and the optimized DUGKS, which greatly enlarges the stability region.

In this paper, a coupled discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (CDUGKS) with a flexible Prandtl number is developed for the thermal compressible flows in all Knudsen number regimes. Different from the existing thermal discrete unified gas kinetic scheme based on the Shakhov model, the proposed CDUGKS based on the total energy double-distribution-function model can well preserve the nonnegative property of the distribution function, especially for the strong shock in the continuum regime. In the CDUGKS, the velocity distribution function (VDF) is used to recover the compressible continuity and momentum equations, while the energy distribution function (EDF) is used to recover the energy equation. The VDF and EDF are evaluated in a similar way and then coupled via the thermal equation of state. With the un-splitting treatment of the particle transport and collision in the distribution function evolution and the flux evaluation, the time step in CDUGKS is not limited by the particle collision time. Furthermore, the CDUGKS is an asymptotic preserving scheme, in which the Navier-Stokes solution in the hydrodynamic regime and the free transport mechanism in the kinetic regime can be precisely recovered with the second-order accuracy in both space and time. Finally, several numerical experiments, including the weak shock tube and the strong one in the whole Knudsen number flows, as well as the two-dimensional Riemann problem and the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in both hydrodynamic regime and kinetic regimes, are performed to validate the method. Numerical results agree fairly well with other benchmark results in different flow regimes, which demonstrates the current CDUGKS is a reliable and efficient method for multiscale flow problems.

Multiscale gas flows appear in many fields and have received particular attention in recent years. It is challenging to model and simulate such processes due to the large span of temporal and spatial scales. The discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) is a recently developed numerical approach for simulating multiscale flows based on kinetic models. The finite-volume DUGKS differs from the classical kinetic methods in the modeling of gas evolution and the reconstruction of interface flux. Particularly, the distribution function at a cell interface is reconstructed from the characteristic solution of the kinetic equation in space and time, such that the particle transport and collision effects are coupled, accumulated, and evaluated in a numerical time step scale. Consequently, the cell size and time step of DUGKS are not passively limited by the particle mean-free-path and relaxation time. As a result, the DUGKS can capture the flow behaviors in all regimes without resolving the kinetic scale. Particularly, with the variation of the ratio between numerical mesh size scale and kinetic mean free path scale, the DUGKS can serve as a self-adaptive multiscale method. The DUGKS has been successfully applied to a number of flow problems with multiple flow regimes. This paper presents a brief review of the progress of this method.

This paper is a continuation of our work on the development of multiscale numerical scheme from low-speed isothermal flow to compressible flows at high Mach numbers. In our earlier work [Z. L. Guo et al., Phys. Rev. E 88, 033305 (2013)], a discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) was developed for low-speed flows in which the Mach number is small so that the flow is nearly incompressible. In the current work, we extend the scheme to compressible flows with the inclusion of thermal effect and shock discontinuity based on the gas kinetic Shakhov model. This method is an explicit finite-volume scheme with the coupling of particle transport and collision in the flux evaluation at a cell interface. As a result, the time step of the method is not limited by the particle collision time. With the variation of the ratio between the time step and particle collision time, the scheme is an asymptotic preserving (AP) method, where both the Chapman-Enskog expansion for the Navier-Stokes solution in the continuum regime and the free transport mechanism in the rarefied limit can be precisely recovered with a second-order accuracy in both space and time. The DUGKS is an idealized multiscale method for all Knudsen number flow simulations. A number of numerical tests, including the shock structure problem, the Sod tube problem in a whole range of degree of rarefaction, and the two-dimensional Riemann problem in both continuum and rarefied regimes, are performed to validate the scheme. Comparisons with the results of direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and other benchmark data demonstrate that the DUGKS is a reliable and efficient method for multiscale flow problems.

A conserved discrete unified gas kinetic scheme for microchannel gas flows in all flow regimes

Due to the rapid advances in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), the study of microflows becomes increasingly important. Currently, the molecular-based simulation techniques are the most reliable methods for rarefied flow computation, even though these methods face statistical scattering problem in the low speed limit. With discretized particle velocity space, a unified gas-kinetic scheme (UGKS) for entire Knudsen number flow has been constructed recently for flow computation. Contrary to the particle-based direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, the unified scheme is a partial differential equation-based modeling method, where the statistical noise is totally removed. But, the common point between the DSMC and UGKS is that both methods are constructed through direct modeling in the discretized space. Due to the multiscale modeling in the unified method, i.e., the update of both macroscopic flow variables and microscopic gas distribution function, the conventional constraint of time step being less than the particle collision time in many direct Boltzmann solvers is released here. The numerical tests show that the unified scheme is more efficient than the particle-based methods in the low speed rarefied flow computation. The main purpose of the current study is to validate the accuracy of the unified scheme in the capturing of non-equilibrium flow phenomena. In the continuum and free molecular limits, the gas distribution function used in the unified scheme for the flux evaluation at a cell interface goes to the corresponding Navier-Stokes and free molecular solutions. In the transition regime, the DSMC solution will be used for the validation of UGKS results. This study shows that the unified scheme is indeed a reliable and accurate flow solver for low speed non-equilibrium flows. It not only recovers the DSMC results whenever available, but also provides high resolution results in cases where the DSMC can hardly afford the computational cost. In thermal creep flow simulation, surprising solution, such as the gas flowing from hot to cold regions along the wall surface, is observed for the first time by the unified scheme, which is confirmed later through intensive DSMC computation.

Central-moment discrete unified gas-kinetic scheme for incompressible two-phase flows with large density ratio

Discrete unified gas kinetic scheme with a force term for incompressible fluid flows

Recently a discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) in a finite-volume formulation based on the Boltzmann model equation has been developed for gas flows in all flow regimes. The original DUGKS is designed for flows of single-species gases. In this work, we extend the DUGKS to flows of binary gas mixtures of Maxwell molecules based on the Andries-Aoki-Perthame kinetic model [P. Andries et al., J. Stat. Phys. 106, 993 (2002)JSTPBS0022-471510.1023/A:1014033703134. A particular feature of the method is that the flux at each cell interface is evaluated based on the characteristic solution of the kinetic equation itself; thus the numerical dissipation is low in comparison with that using direct reconstruction. Furthermore, the implicit treatment of the collision term enables the time step to be free from the restriction of the relaxation time. Unlike the DUGKS for single-species flows, a nonlinear system must be solved to determine the interaction parameters appearing in the equilibrium distribution function, which can be obtained analytically for Maxwell molecules. Several tests are performed to validate the scheme, including the shock structure problem under different Mach numbers and molar concentrations, the channel flow driven by a small gradient of pressure, temperature, or concentration, the plane Couette flow, and the shear driven cavity flow under different mass ratios and molar concentrations. The results are compared with those from other reliable numerical methods. The results show that the proposed scheme is an effective and reliable method for binary gas mixtures in all flow regimes.

In this paper, a multiscale boundary condition for the discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) is developed for gas flows in all flow regimes. Based on the discrete Maxwell boundary condition (DMBC), this study addresses the limitations of the original DMBC used in DUGKS. Specifically, it is found that the DMBC produces spurious velocity slip and temperature jump, which are proportional to the mesh size and the momentum accommodation coefficient. The proposed multiscale DMBC is implemented by ensuring that the reflected original distribution function excludes collision effects. Theoretical analyses and several numerical tests show that the multiscale DMBC can achieve exactly the nonslip and nonjump conditions in the continuum limit and accurately captures nonequilibrium phenomena across a wide range of Knudsen numbers. The results demonstrate that the DUGKS with the multiscale DMBC can work properly for wall boundary conditions in all flow regimes with a fixed discretization in both space and time, without limitations on the thickness of the Knudsen layer and relaxation time.

This work is an extension of the discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) from rarefied gas dynamics to strongly inhomogeneous dense fluid systems. The fluid molecular size can be ignored for dilute gases, while the nonlocal intermolecular collisions and the competition of solid-fluid and fluid-fluid interactions play an important role for surface-confined fluid flows at the nanometer scale. The nonequilibrium state induces strong fluid structural-confined inhomogeneity and anomalous fluid flow dynamics. According to the previous kinetic model [Guo etal., Phys. Rev. E 71, 035301(R) (2005)10.1103/PhysRevE.71.035301], the long-range intermolecular attraction is modeled by the mean-field approximation, and the volume exclusion effect is considered by the hard-sphere potential in the collision operator. The kinetic model is solved by the DUGKS, which has the characteristics of asymptotic preserving, low dissipation, second-order accuracy, and multidimensional nature. Both static fluid structure and dynamic flow behaviors are calculated and validated with Monte Carlo or molecular dynamics results. It is shown that the flow of dense fluid systems tends to that of rarefied gases as the dense degree decreases or the mean flow path increases. The DUGKS is proved to be applicable to simulate such nonequilibrium dense fluid systems.

A discrete unified gas kinetic scheme (DUGKS) is developed for multi-species flow in all flow regimes based on the Andries-Aoki-Perthame (AAP) kinetic model. Although the species collision operator in the AAP model conserves fully the mass, momentum, and energy for the mixture, it does not conserve the momentum and energy for each species due to the inter-species collisions. In this work, the species collision operator is decomposed into two parts: one part is fully conservative for the species and the other represents the excess part. With this decomposition, the kinetic equation is solved using the Strang-splitting method, in which the excess part of the collision operator is treated as a source, while the kinetic equation with the species conservative part is solved by the standard DUGKS. Particularly, the time integration of the source term is realized by either explicit or implicit Euler scheme. By this means, it is easy to extend the scheme to gas mixtures composed of Maxwell or hard-sphere molecules, while the previous DUGKS [Zhang Y, Zhu L, Wang R et al, Phys Rev E 97(5):053306, 2018] of binary gases was only designed for Maxwell molecules. Several tests are performed to validate the scheme, including the shock structure under different Mach numbers and molar concentrations, the Couette flow under different mass ratios, and the pressure-driven Poiseuille flow in different flow regimes. The results are compared with those from other reliable numerical methods based on different models. And the influence of molecular model on the flow characteristics is studied. The results also show that the present DUGKS with implicit source discretization is more stable and preferable for gas mixture problems involving different flow regimes.