Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Schemes Research Articles

Semi-implicit staggered discontinuous Galerkin schemes for axially symmetric viscous compressible flows in elastic tubes

We propose a novel family of staggered semi-implicit discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element schemes for the simulation of axially symmetric, weakly compressible and laminar viscous flows in elastic pipes. The equation of state (EOS) of the fluid is assumed to be barotropic and two different mathematical models derived from the compressible Navier-Stokes equations are considered in this paper.The first model describes cross-sectionally averaged 1D flows, including steady and frequency-dependent wall friction effects. The novelty of our numerical method compared to standard DG schemes consists in the use of a staggered mesh, where the pressure is defined over a primary grid and the velocity field is defined on edge-based staggered dual control volumes. This approach is well known from classical semi-implicit finite difference schemes for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, but it is still quite unusual for high order DG schemes. The continuity equation is integrated over the control volumes that belong to the main grid, while the momentum equation is integrated over the elements of the edge-based staggered dual grid. The nonlinear convective terms are discretized explicitly, while the pressure gradient and the mass flux are discretized implicitly. Up to second order of accuracy in time can be achieved with the so-called θ-method. Inserting the discrete momentum equation in the discrete mass conservation equation leads to a mildly nonlinear algebraic system for the degrees of freedom of the pressure. Such mildly nonlinear systems can be very efficiently solved using the Newton algorithm of Brugnano and Casulli. We observe that the linear part of the mildly nonlinear system is symmetric and positive definite.The second model is derived from the compressible Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates. Assuming hydrostatic flow with constant pressure inside each cross section as well as axial symmetry, only the terms in the axial and the radial direction need to be considered. Therefore, we call the second model the 2Dxr model. Also in this case we use a staggered mesh for pressure and velocity and thus the same philosophy as for the 1D model can be applied to obtain the discrete pressure system. For the 2Dxr model a staggered DG scheme is also applied for the computation of the viscous stress tensor in the discrete momentum equation. However, in radial direction the resulting linear system for the friction terms is not symmetric and is thus solved using the Thomas algorithm for block three-diagonal systems.The use of a semi-implicit DG scheme leads to a very mild CFL condition based only on the fluid velocity and not on the sound speed, which makes the method very efficient, in particular in the limit cases when the speed of sound of the fluid tends to infinity (incompressible fluid) and in the rigid case where the wall strain of the pipe tends to zero. In addition, at every Newton step a symmetric positive definite and well conditioned block three-diagonal linear system is solved for the pressure, using a matrix-free conjugate gradient method. Moreover, when the polynomial degree of the basis and test functions is equal to zero the schemes reduce to classical semi-implicit finite volume methods.While in the 2Dxr model the viscous effects in radial direction are directly obtained from first principles via the Navier-Stokes equations, the 1D model requires an additional closure relation for the wall friction. For both models we perform several tests in order to validate the numerical methods for steady and unsteady flows of compressible and nearly incompressible fluids in elastic and rigid tubes. We also provide numerical convergence results in order to show that the developed schemes achieve high order of accuracy in space.

High order ADER schemes for a unified first order hyperbolic formulation of Newtonian continuum mechanics coupled with electro-dynamics

In this paper, we propose a new unified first order hyperbolic model of Newtonian continuum mechanics coupled with electro-dynamics. The model is able to describe the behavior of moving elasto-plastic dielectric solids as well as viscous and inviscid fluids in the presence of electro-magnetic fields. It is actually a very peculiar feature of the proposed PDE system that viscous fluids are treated just as a special case of elasto-plastic solids. This is achieved by introducing a strain relaxation mechanism in the evolution equations of the distortion matrix A, which in the case of purely elastic solids maps the current configuration to the reference configuration. The model also contains a hyperbolic formulation of heat conduction as well as a dissipative source term in the evolution equations for the electric field given by Ohm's law. Via formal asymptotic analysis we show that in the stiff limit, the governing first order hyperbolic PDE system with relaxation source terms tends asymptotically to the well-known viscous and resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. Furthermore, a rigorous derivation of the model from variational principles is presented, together with the transformation of the Euler–Lagrange differential equations associated with the underlying variational problem from Lagrangian coordinates to Eulerian coordinates in a fixed laboratory frame. The present paper hence extends the unified first order hyperbolic model of Newtonian continuum mechanics recently proposed in [110,42] to the more general case where the continuum is coupled with electro-magnetic fields. The governing PDE system is symmetric hyperbolic and satisfies the first and second principle of thermodynamics, hence it belongs to the so-called class of symmetric hyperbolic thermodynamically compatible systems (SHTC), which have been studied for the first time by Godunov in 1961 [61] and later in a series of papers by Godunov and Romenski [67,69,119]. An important feature of the proposed model is that the propagation speeds of all physical processes, including dissipative processes, are finite. The model is discretized using high order accurate ADER discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element schemes with a posteriori subcell finite volume limiter and using high order ADER-WENO finite volume schemes. We show numerical test problems that explore a rather large parameter space of the model ranging from ideal MHD, viscous and resistive MHD over pure electro-dynamics to moving dielectric elastic solids in a magnetic field.

Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian Discontinuous Galerkin schemes with a posteriori subcell finite volume limiting on moving unstructured meshes

We present a new family of high order accurate fully discrete one-step Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element schemes on moving unstructured meshes for the solution of nonlinear hyperbolic PDE in multiple space dimensions, which may also include parabolic terms in order to model dissipative transport processes, like molecular viscosity or heat conduction. High order piecewise polynomials of degree N are adopted to represent the discrete solution at each time level and within each spatial control volume of the computational grid, while high order of accuracy in time is achieved by the ADER approach, making use of an element-local space–time Galerkin finite element predictor. A novel nodal solver algorithm based on the HLL flux is derived to compute the velocity for each nodal degree of freedom that describes the current mesh geometry. In our algorithm the spatial mesh configuration can be defined in two different ways: either by an isoparametric approach that generates curved control volumes, or by a piecewise linear decomposition of each spatial control volume into simplex sub-elements. Each technique generates a corresponding number of geometrical degrees of freedom needed to describe the current mesh configuration and which must be considered by the nodal solver for determining the grid velocity.The connection of the old mesh configuration at time tn with the new one at time tn+1 provides the space–time control volumes on which the governing equations have to be integrated in order to obtain the time evolution of the discrete solution. Our numerical method belongs to the category of so-called direct Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) schemes, where a space–time conservation formulation of the governing PDE system is considered and which already takes into account the new grid geometry (including a possible rezoning step) directly during the computation of the numerical fluxes. We emphasize that our method is a moving mesh method, as opposed to total Lagrangian formulations that are based on a fixed computational grid and which instead evolve the mapping of the reference configuration to the current one.Our new Lagrangian-type DG scheme adopts the novel a posteriori sub-cell finite volume limiter method recently developed in [62] for fixed unstructured grids. In this approach, the validity of the candidate solution produced in each cell by an unlimited ADER-DG scheme is verified against a set of physical and numerical detection criteria, such as the positivity of pressure and density, the absence of floating point errors (NaN) and the satisfaction of a relaxed discrete maximum principle (DMP) in the sense of polynomials. Those cells which do not satisfy all of the above criteria are flagged as troubled cells and are recomputed at the aid of a more robust second order TVD finite volume scheme. To preserve the subcell resolution capability of the original DG scheme, the FV limiter is run on a sub-grid that is 2N+1 times finer compared to the mesh of the original unlimited DG scheme. The new subcell averages are then gathered back into a high order DG polynomial by a usual conservative finite volume reconstruction operator.The numerical convergence rates of the new ALE ADER-DG schemes are studied up to fourth order in space and time and several test problems are simulated in order to check the accuracy and the robustness of the proposed numerical method in the context of the Euler and Navier–Stokes equations for compressible gas dynamics, considering both inviscid and viscous fluids. Finally, an application inspired by Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) type flows is considered by solving the Euler equations and the PDE of viscous and resistive magnetohydrodynamics (VRMHD).

Perfectly matched layers for convex truncated domains with discontinuous Galerkin time domain simulations

This paper deals with the design of perfectly matched layers (PMLs) for transient acoustic wave propagation in generally-shaped convex truncated domains. After reviewing key elements to derive PML equations for such domains, we present two time-dependent formulations for the pressure–velocity system. These formulations are obtained by using a complex coordinate stretching of the time-harmonic version of the equations in a specific curvilinear coordinate system. The final PML equations are written in a general tensor form, which can easily be projected in Cartesian coordinates to facilitate implementation with classical discretization methods. Discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes are proposed for both formulations. They are tested and compared using a three-dimensional benchmark with an ellipsoidal truncated domain. Our approach can be generalized to domains with corners.

A parallel implementation of an implicit discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme for fluid flow problems

The discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method is frequently used in computational fluid dynamics for its stability and high order of accuracy. A disadvantage of the DG method is its high computational demands. The aim of this paper is to weaken this drawback by means of parallelization of the DG algorithm. The computation is performed on a network of computers with distributed memory using the Java Remote Method Invocation, which is included in the Java programming language. The partition of the boundary value problem into n subproblems, which is then solved by n computers separately, is based on the overlapping Schwarz method. On basis of physical nature of the problem, the present paper proposes minimal size of the overlap that allows for only one Schwarz iteration thereby increasing efficiency of parallelization. The scalability and efficiency of the presented parallelization approach is demonstrated on several test problems. In order to stabilize the DG method in presence of shocks, a recently developed technique by Huerta et al. (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 69(10), 2012, 1614–1632), which introduces discontinuities in basis functions in regions with a shock, is adopted here. A modification of this approach, which lowers the computational and implementational demands, is presented here.

Hydraulic flood routing in an ephemeral channel: Wadi Mekerra, Algeria

Wadis are a vital source of water in most arid and semi-arid countries. Catastrophic flash floods occurring in wadis are a threat to many societies. The Wadi Mekerra basin in the North-West of Algeria represents one of these semi-arid regions the most affected by floods and has been always one of the main concerns of managers in Sidi Bel Abbes province. In this work, we present the main climatic and hydromorphometric features of Wadi Mekerra watershed. We discuss the main factors that cause flooding in the studied catchment. A hydraulic model based on the Runge-Kutta Discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) finite element scheme and a limited (existing) field data was applied and compared with measured flow data. The objective was to assess whether a reliable hydraulic flood routing model of a Wadi in a semi-arid region could be developed, with limited cross section data supplemented by topographic map information. A comparison between the measured and simulated results shows that the model used is appropriate for determining the flood hydrograph at the outlet of the watercourse.

Computational modelling of multiscale, multiphase fluid mixtures with application to tumour growth

In this work we consider the discretization of a recently formulated (Collis et al., [22]) multiscale model for drug- and nutrient-limited tumour growth. The key contribution of this work is the proposal of a discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme which incorporates a non-standard coupling across a singular surface, and the presentation of full details of a suitable discretization for the coupled flow and transport systems, such as that arising in Collis et al. [22] and other similar works. We demonstrate the application of the proposed discretizations via representative numerical experiments; furthermore, we present a short numerical study of convergence for the proposed microscale scheme, in which we observe optimal rates of convergence for sufficiently smooth data.

A Robust Weak Galerkin Finite Element Method for Linear Elasticity with Strong Symmetric Stresses

Abstract This paper proposes and analyzes a weak Galerkin (WG) finite element method with strong symmetric stresses for two- and three-dimensional linear elasticity problems on conforming or nonconforming polygon/polyhedral meshes. The WG method uses piecewise-polynomial approximations of degrees k ( ≥ 1 ${\geq 1}$ ) for the stress, k + 1 ${k+1}$ for the displacement, and k for the displacement trace on the inter-element boundaries. It is shown to be equivalent to a hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) finite element scheme. We show that the WG methods are robust in the sense that the derived a priori error estimates are optimal and uniform with respect to the Lamé constant λ. Numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results.

High order ADER schemes for a unified first order hyperbolic formulation of continuum mechanics: Viscous heat-conducting fluids and elastic solids

This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of the unified first order hyperbolic formulation of continuum mechanics recently proposed by Peshkov & Romenski, denoted as HPR model. In that framework, the viscous stresses are computed from the so-called distortion tensor A, which is one of the primary state variables. A very important key feature of the model is its ability to describe at the same time the behavior of inviscid and viscous compressible Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids with heat conduction, as well as the behavior of elastic and visco-plastic solids. This is achieved via a stiff source term that accounts for strain relaxation in the evolution equations of A. Also heat conduction is included via a first order hyperbolic evolution equation of the thermal impulse, from which the heat flux is computed. The governing PDE system is hyperbolic and fully consistent with the principles of thermodynamics. It is also fundamentally different from first order Maxwell-Cattaneo-type relaxation models based on extended irreversible thermodynamics. The connection between the HPR model and the classical hyperbolic-parabolic Navier-Stokes-Fourier theory is established via a formal asymptotic analysis in the stiff relaxation limit. From a numerical point of view, the governing partial differential equations are very challenging, since they form a large nonlinear hyperbolic PDE system that includes stiff source terms and non-conservative products. We apply the successful family of one-step ADER-WENO finite volume and ADER discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes in the stiff relaxation limit, and compare the numerical results with exact or numerical reference solutions obtained for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. To show the universality of the model, the paper is rounded-off with an application to wave propagation in elastic solids.

Space–time adaptive ADER discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes with a posteriori sub-cell finite volume limiting

In this paper we present a novel arbitrary high order accurate discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method on space–time adaptive Cartesian meshes (AMR) for hyperbolic conservation laws in multiple space dimensions, using a high order a posteriori sub-cell ADER-WENO finite volume limiter. Notoriously, the original DG method produces strong oscillations in the presence of discontinuous solutions and several types of limiters have been introduced over the years to cope with this problem. Following the innovative idea recently proposed in [53], the discrete solution within the troubled cells is recomputed by scattering the DG polynomial at the previous time step onto a suitable number of sub-cells along each direction. Relying on the robustness of classical finite volume WENO schemes, the sub-cell averages are recomputed and then gathered back into the DG polynomials over the main grid. In this paper this approach is implemented for the first time within a space–time adaptive AMR framework in two and three space dimensions, after assuring the proper averaging and projection between sub-cells that belong to different levels of refinement. The combination of the sub-cell resolution with the advantages of AMR allows for an unprecedented ability in resolving even the finest details in the dynamics of the fluid. The spectacular resolution properties of the new scheme have been shown through a wide number of test cases performed in two and in three space dimensions, both for the Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics and for the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations.

Nonconforming Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Nonlocal Variational Problems

We present a nonconforming discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme for nonlocal variational problems associated with some linear nonlocal diffusion and nonlocal peridynamic operators subject to volumetric constraints. The nonlocal operators under consideration have nonlocal interaction kernels that exhibit singularities at the origin so that the natural energy spaces do not allow conforming discontinuous finite element functions. The key idea in our method is based on the introduction of modified nonlocal interaction kernels near the origin. It works for multidimensional problems defined on bounded domains partitioned with general meshes and approximations using general basis functions. A convergence theory is established for two types of finite dimensional spaces, with the first type including finite element spaces that lead to unconditional convergence if they contain all continuous piecewise linear functions and the other type being the discontinuous piecewise constant function space that is shown...

A Time Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method for Quasi-Linear Sobolev Equations

We present a time discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme for quasi-linear Sobolev equations. The approximate solution is sought as a piecewise polynomial of degree in time variable at mostq-1with coefficients in finite element space. This piecewise polynomial is not necessarily continuous at the nodes of the partition for the time interval. The existence and uniqueness of the approximate solution are proved by use of Brouwer’s fixed point theorem. An optimalL∞(0,T;H1(Ω))-norm error estimate is derived. Just because of a damping termuxxtincluded in quasi-linear Sobolev equations, which is the distinct character different from parabolic equation, more attentions are paid to this term in the study. This is the significance of this paper.

Discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme for a conserved higher-order traffic flow model by exploring Riemann solvers

The discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme is used to solve a conserved higher-order (CHO) traffic flow model by exploring several Riemann solvers. The second-order accurate DG scheme is found to be adequate in that the accuracy is comparable to the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme with fifth-order accuracy and much better than the scheme with first-order accuracy in resolving a wide moving jam with a shock profile. Moreover, it considerably reduces the differences between the proposed solvers in generating numerical viscosities or errors. Thus, this scheme can maintain high efficiency when a simple solver is adopted. The scheme could be extended to solve more complex problems, such as those related to traffic flow in a network.

A Survey of High Order Schemes for the Shallow Water Equations

In this paper, we survey our recent work on designing high order positivity- preserving well-balanced finite difference and finite volume WENO (weighted essen- tially non-oscillatory) schemes, and discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes for solving the shallow water equations with a non-flat bottom topography. These schemes are genuinely high order accurate in smooth regions for general solutions, are essentially non-oscillatory for general solutions with discontinuities, and at the same time they preserve exactly the water at rest or the more general moving water steady state solutions. A simple positivity-preserving limiter, valid under suitable CFL condi- tion, has been introduced in one dimension and reformulated to two dimensions with triangular meshes, and we prove that the resulting schemes guarantee the positivity of the water depth.

Energy consistent discontinuous Galerkin methods for the Navier–Stokes–Korteweg system

We design consistent discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes for the approximation of the Euler-Korteweg and the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg systems. We show that the scheme for the Euler-Korteweg system is energy and mass conservative and that the scheme for the Navier-Stokes-Korteweg system is mass conservative and monotonically energy dissipative. In this case the dissipation is isolated to viscous effects, that is, there is no numerical dissipation. In this sense the methods is consistent with the energy dissipation of the continuous PDE systems.

Weak Galerkin finite element methods for Parabolic equations

AbstractA newly developed weak Galerkin method is proposed to solve parabolic equations. This method allows the usage of totally discontinuous functions in approximation space and preserves the energy conservation law. Both continuous and discontinuous time weak Galerkin finite element schemes are developed and analyzed. Optimal‐order error estimates in both H1 and L2 norms are established. Numerical tests are performed and reported. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2013

A discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for swelling model of polymer gels

An attractive feature of discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element schemes is that this concept offers a unified and versatile discretization platform for various types of partial differential equations. The locality of the trial functions not only supports local mesh refinements but also offers a framework for comfortably varying the order of the discretization. In this paper, we propose and analyze a mixed-DG finite element method for a displacement–pressure model which describes swelling dynamics of polymer gels under mechanical constraints. By introducing a flux variable we first present a reformulation of the governing equations of polymer gels. We then approximate the pressure and flux variables by a mixed finite element space and the displacement by DG finite element method. Existence and uniqueness are proved and error estimates are derived for mixed-DG finite element scheme. Finally, numerical experiments are presented to show the performance of the mixed-DG approximation of polymer gels.

A High Order Sharp-Interface Method with Local Time Stepping for Compressible Multiphase Flows

AbstractIn this paper, a new sharp-interface approach to simulate compressible multiphase flows is proposed. The new scheme consists of a high order WENO finite volume scheme for solving the Euler equations coupled with a high order path-conservative discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme to evolve an indicator function that tracks the material interface. At the interface our method applies ghost cells to compute the numerical flux, as the ghost fluid method. However, unlike the original ghost fluid scheme of Fedkiw et al. [15], the state of the ghost fluid is derived from an approximate-state Riemann solver, similar to the approach proposed in [25], but based on a much simpler formulation. Our formulation leads only to one single scalar nonlinear algebraic equation that has to be solved at the interface, instead of the system used in [25]. Away from the interface, we use the new general Osher-type flux recently proposed by Dumbser and Toro [13], which is a simple but complete Riemann solver, applicable to general hyperbolic conservation laws. The time integration is performed using a fully-discrete one-step scheme, based on the approaches recently proposed in [5,7]. This allows us to evolve the system also with time-accurate local time stepping. Due to the sub-cell resolution and the subsequent more restrictive time-step constraint of the DG scheme, a local evolution for the indicator function is applied, which is matched with the finite volume scheme for the solution of the Euler equations that runs with a larger time step. The use of a locally optimal time step avoids the introduction of excessive numerical diffusion in the finite volume scheme. Two different fluids have been used, namely an ideal gas and a weakly compressible fluid modeled by the Tait equation. Several tests have been computed to assess the accuracy and the performance of the new high order scheme. A verification of our algorithm has been carefully carried out using exact solutions as well as a comparison with other numerical reference solutions. The material interface is resolved sharply and accurately without spurious oscillations in the pressure field.

HLLC-type Riemann solver for the Baer–Nunziato equations of compressible two-phase flow

We first construct an approximate Riemann solver of the HLLC-type for the Baer–Nunziato equations of compressible two-phase flow for the “subsonic” wave configuration. The solver is fully nonlinear. It is also complete, that is, it contains all the characteristic fields present in the exact solution of the Riemann problem. In particular, stationary contact waves are resolved exactly. We then implement and test a new upwind variant of the path-conservative approach; such schemes are suitable for solving numerically nonconservative systems. Finally, we use locally the new HLLC solver for the Baer–Nunziato equations in the framework of finite volume, discontinuous Galerkin finite element and path-conservative schemes. We systematically assess the solver on a series of carefully chosen test problems.

ADER schemes on unstructured meshes for nonconservative hyperbolic systems: Applications to geophysical flows

We develop a new family of well-balanced path-conservative quadrature-free one-step ADER finite volume and discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes on unstructured meshes for the solution of hyperbolic partial differential equations with non-conservative products and stiff source terms. The fully discrete formulation is derived using the recently developed framework of explicit one-step P N P M schemes of arbitrary high order of accuracy in space and time for conservative hyperbolic systems [Dumbser M, Balsara D, Toro EF, Munz CD. A unified framework for the construction of one-step finite-volume and discontinuous Galerkin schemes. J Comput Phys 2008;227:8209–53]. The two key ingredients of our high order approach are: first, the high order accurate P N P M reconstruction operator on unstructured meshes, using the WENO strategy presented in [Dumbser M, Käser M, Titarev VA Toro EF. Quadrature-free non-oscillatory finite volume schemes on unstructured meshes for nonlinear hyperbolic systems. J Comput Phys 2007;226:204–43] to ensure monotonicity at discontinuities, and second, a local space–time Galerkin scheme to predict the evolution of the reconstructed polynomial data inside each element during one time step to obtain a high order accurate one-step time discretization. This approach is also able to deal with stiff source terms as shown in [Dumbser M, Enaux C, Toro EF. Finite volume schemes of very high order of accuracy for stiff hyperbolic balance laws. J Comput Phys 2008;227:3971–4001]. These two key ingredients are combined with the recently developed path-conservative methods of Parés [Parés C. Numerical methods for nonconservative hyperbolic systems: a theoretical framework. SIAM J Numer Anal 2006;44:300–21] and Castro et al. [Castro MJ, Gallardo JM, Parés C. High-order finite volume schemes based on reconstruction of states for solving hyperbolic systems with nonconservative products. Applications to shallow-water systems. Math Comput 2006;75:1103–34] to treat the non-conservative products properly. We show applications of our method to the two-layer shallow water equations as well as applications to the recently published depth-averaged two-fluid flow model of Pitman and Le [Pitman EB, Le L. A two-fluid model for avalanche and debris flows. Philos Trans Roy Soc A 2005;363:1573–601].