Reduced-dissipation remapping of velocity in staggered arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian methods

Abstract

Remapping is an essential part of most Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) methods. In this paper, we focus on the part of the remapping algorithm that performs the interpolation of the fluid velocity field from the Lagrangian to the rezoned computational mesh in the context of a staggered discretization. Standard remapping algorithms generate a discrepancy between the remapped kinetic energy, and the kinetic energy that is obtained from the remapped nodal velocities which conserves momentum. In most ALE codes, this discrepancy is redistributed to the internal energy of adjacent computational cells which allows for the conservation of total energy. This approach can introduce oscillations in the internal energy field, which may not be acceptable. We analyze the approach introduced in Bailey (1984) [11] which is not supposed to introduce dissipation. On a simple example, we demonstrate a situation in which this approach fails. A modification of this approach is described, which eliminates (when it is possible) or reduces the energy discrepancy.