Divergence-free Condition Research Articles

A staggered Lagrangian magnetohydrodynamics method based on subcell Riemann solver

This paper uses a general formalism to derive staggered Lagrangian method for 2D compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) flows. A subcell method is introduced to discretize the MHD system and some Riemann problems over subcells are solved at the cell center and grid node respectively. In these solvers, only the fast-waves in all jumping relations are considered and thus the solution structure is simple. The discrete conservations of mass, momentum and energy are preserved naturally in the proposed numerical method. In order to meet the thermodynamic Gibbs relation in isentropic flows, an adaptive Riemann solver is implemented at the cell center, in which a criterion is proposed to reduce overheating errors in the rarefying problems and maintains the excellent shock-capturing ability simultaneously. It is worth to be noticed that the divergence-free condition is naturally satisfied in the Lagrangian method. Various numerical tests are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the algorithm.

An improved implicit direct-forcing immersed boundary method (DF-IBM) around arbitrarily moving rigid structures

An improved implicit direct-forcing immersed boundary method (DF-IBM) is presented for simulating incompressible flows around complex rigid structures undergoing arbitrary motion. The current approach harnesses the pressure implicit with splitting of operators algorithm to handle the fluid–solid system's dual constraints in a segregated manner. As a result, the divergence-free condition is preserved throughout the Eulerian domain, and the no-slip velocity boundary condition is exactly enforced on the immersed boundary. A new pressure Poisson equation (PPE) is derived, incorporating the boundary force where the no-slip condition is already met, enabling the use of fast iterative PPE solvers without modifications. The improvement involves integrating Lagrangian weight methods having better reciprocity over the IBM-related linear operators with the implicit formulation. An additional force initialization scheme is introduced to further boost the algorithm's performance. The method's accuracy, efficiency, and capability are verified through various stationary and moving immersed boundary cases. The results are validated against experimental and numerical data from the literature. The proposed improvements seamlessly integrate into existing incompressible fluid solvers with minimal adjustments to the original system equations, highlighting their ease of implementation.

Axisymmetric phase-field-based lattice Boltzmann model for incompressible two-phase flow with phase change

In this work, a phase-field-based lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) model for axisymmetric two-phase flow with phase change is proposed. Two sets of discrete particle distribution functions are employed to match the conserved Allen–Cahn equation and the hydrodynamic equations with phase change effect, respectively. Since phase change occurs at the interface, the divergence-free condition of the velocity field is no longer satisfied due to mass transfer, and the conserved Allen–Cahn equation needs to be equipped with a source term dependent on the phase change model. To deal with these, a novel source term in the hydrodynamic LBE is delicately designed to recover the correct target governing equations. Meanwhile, the LBE for the Allen–Cahn equation is modified with a discrete force term to model mass transfer. In particular, an additional correction term is added into the hydrodynamic LBE to reduce the spurious velocity and improve numerical stability. Several axisymmetric benchmark multiphase problems with phase change, including bubble growing in superheated liquid, D2 law, film boiling, bubble rising in superheated liquid under gravity, and droplet impact on a hot surface, have been conducted to test the performance of the proposed model. Numerical results agree well with analytical solutions and available published data in the literature.

Accuracy and scalability of incompressible inductionless MHD codes applied to fusion technologies

Abstract It is well-known that magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) dominates the dynamic of the liquid metal flows inside the breeding blankets (BB) of future nuclear fusion plants by magnetic confinement. MHD is a multiphysics phenomenon involving both electromagnetism and incompressible fluid mechanics. From the computational point of view, the simulation of MHD flows in fusion relevant conditions entails a significant challenge. Indeed, due to the shape of the induced electrical currents inside the bulk of the fluid, high spatial resolutions are needed to capture the large gradients found in boundary layers and 3D effects. Besides, solving the equations accurately typically requires very small time steps for the transient algorithms. Over the past few decades, some parallel MHD codes have been developed with success to simulate complex flows in increasingly realistic geometries. Among them, the MHD tools of commercial CFD platforms have attracted attention due to their relatively soft learning curve. Most of these codes are based on the so called ϕ-formulation which, by applying the divergence free condition of the current density to the Ohms law, reduces the electromagnetic part of the problem to a single Poisson equation. As a downside, the approach segregates the fluid and electromagnetic problem. In practice, this establishes important limits to the mesh element size, to the mesh quality and to the time-step needed to obtain accurate and stable solutions that maintains charge conservation at a discrete level. In this work, these limits are explored for the commercial platform ANSYS-Fluent using a test geometry under different conditions. As an alternative, a new code based on Finite Element Methods (FEM) is introduced as well. This open-source code, called GridapMHD (https://github.com/gridapapps/GridapMHD.jl), aims at solving the full set of MHD equations using a monolithic approach. GridapMHD is still in early stages of development but it has already shown promising results.

The pressure-wired Stokes element: a mesh-robust version of the Scott–Vogelius element

The Scott–Vogelius finite element pair for the numerical discretization of the stationary Stokes equation in 2D is a popular element which is based on a continuous velocity approximation of polynomial order k and a discontinuous pressure approximation of order k-1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$k-1$$\\end{document}. It employs a “singular distance” (measured by some geometric mesh quantity Θz≥0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\Theta \\left( \ extbf{z}\\right) \\ge 0$$\\end{document} for triangle vertices z\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ extbf{z}$$\\end{document}) and imposes a local side condition on the pressure space associated to vertices z\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ extbf{z}$$\\end{document} with Θz=0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\Theta \\left( \ extbf{z}\\right) =0$$\\end{document}. The method is inf-sup stable for any fixed regular triangulation and k≥4\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$k\\ge 4$$\\end{document}. However, the inf-sup constant deteriorates if the triangulation contains nearly singular vertices 0<Θz≪1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$0<\\Theta \\left( \ extbf{z}\\right) \\ll 1$$\\end{document}. In this paper, we introduce a very simple parameter-dependent modification of the Scott–Vogelius element with a mesh-robust inf-sup constant. To this end, we provide sharp two-sided bounds for the inf-sup constant with an optimal dependence on the “singular distance”. We characterise the critical pressures to guarantee that the effect on the divergence-free condition for the discrete velocity is negligibly small, for which we provide numerical evidence.

A hybrid FEM-IBM-level set algorithm for water entry of deformable body

Water entry of deformable bodies has been investigated extensively despite the major challenges in precise simulations of the whole physical process. Inspired by the basic idea of immersed boundary method (IBM), a hybrid FEM-IBM-level set algorithm is proposed where structural compliance is considered. The flow is described by Navier-Stokes equations with an added body force while the drastically moving object of arbitrary geometry is represented by several Lagrangian points on solid boundary. The direct forcing IBM is enhanced and coupled with finite element method (FEM) to facilitate simulation of severe fluid-structure interactions. Consequently, the added body force is calculated implicitly based on the exact velocity boundary condition with divergence-free condition ensured simultaneously. The improved conservative level set technique is adopted for accurate depiction of instantaneously distorted water surface, and the strongly coupled system is resolved iteratively through a partitioned scheme. Examples including sedimentation of a disk, water entry of deformable wedge and cylindrical shell are performed for validation. Specifically, hydroelastic impact of a three-dimensional conical shell is investigated, and the influence factors of entry dynamics are discussed. The results demonstrate the reliability and great potential of present algorithm for practical applications in ocean engineering, naval architecture and military engineering, etc.

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the Brinkman–Darcy-transport problem

In this paper, a weighted discontinuous Galerkin finite element method and an upwind format are presented to solve the coupled Brinkman–Darcy flow and transport model. The flow in a highly permeable region of the model is governed by the Brinkman equations, and the percolation in the porous media is controlled by the Darcy equations, which are coupled by three interface conditions. The permeability coefficients in this model are strongly nonhomogeneous, anisotropic, and discontinuous; the transport equation is a convection-dominated problem; and the velocity field in the porous media domain does not satisfy the divergence-free condition. A weighted discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the complex permeability coefficient problem and an upwind scheme is used to solve the convection dominated problem. The interface conditions can be naturally incorporated into the discrete formulation without introducing additional variables. Optimal error estimates are obtained for the semi-discretization and the full discretization with the backward Euler scheme in suitable energy norm. A series of numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the proposed method, including testing the convergence and accuracy of various types of meshes; simulating fluid flow in complex porous media such as obstacles, layered media, and curved interfaces; and studying the coupled flow behavior of surface-subsurface flows with contaminant transport.

A coupled FDEM-IBM-level set method for water entry of multiple flexible objects

In order to construct a versatile technique for water entry problems with structural deformations of multiple bodies, a novel hybrid algorithm, which couples the improved immersed boundary method (IBM) based fluid solver with the finite-discrete element method (FDEM) based structural solver, is proposed. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations added with a virtual body force are employed for the hydrodynamic behaviors in the presence of elastic bodies. Representing the boundaries of solids by a set of immersed boundary points, the direct forcing IBM is enhanced to tackle the sharply moving objects of arbitrary geometries with inherent advantages. Such treatment enables the velocity boundary condition on the interface of the fluid and solid along with the divergence-free condition to be ensured simultaneously in the implicit computation of the added body force, which give rise to a more accurate depiction for fluid-solid interactions (FSI). Described by the finite element method (FEM), the deformable objects are allowed to deform and collide with each other during water entry which is seldom reported in literature. The contact interactions are calculated according to the distance potential function based discrete element method on the outermost layer of the finite elements. Furthermore, the improved conservative level set method is adopted to deal with the violently distorted free surface during hydroelastic impact. The strongly coupled FSI system is then resolved through a partitioned procedure, where sub-iterations are required in each time step to satisfy the convergence conditions exactly. The reliability of the present solver is validated by the classical cases of slamming of a flexible wedge and a free-falling cylindrical shell, along with dam break through an elastic gate and the settlement of two interactional circular cylinders. The accuracy and convergence rates of the proposed algorithm are also studied. Finally, a self-designed case, in which water entry of multiple compliant cylindrical shells is investigated, is performed to illustrate the effectiveness of the current approach, and a three-dimensional case study of multiple rocks impacting on the calm water surface demonstrates its great potential in practical applications.

A MAC grid based FFT-AMIB solver for incompressible Stokes flows with interfaces and singular forces

In this paper, a second order accurate Augmented Matched Interface and Boundary (AMIB) method is introduced for solving the incompressible Stokes flows with interfaces and singular forces. Based on the MAC staggered grid for velocity and pressure, the zeroth order and first order jump conditions are repeatedly enforced in the AMIB scheme to generate fictitious values around the interface, which allow an accurate approximation of the Cartesian derivative jumps. By treating all jump quantities as auxiliary variables and coupling them with the corrected finite difference formulas, the Stokes equations can be discretized into an augmented system. The proposed FFT-AMIB solver does not need to take the pressure boundary condition into account. Moreover, in the Schur complement solution of the augmented system, the discrete Laplacian can be efficiently inverted by using the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Numerical results show that the FFT-AMIB solver is very efficient and can achieve second order accuracy for both velocity and pressure. The iteration number of Bi-CGSTAB in solving the resulting augmented system only weakly depends on the mesh size. When the interface is allowed to be moved under the surface tension, the proposed algorithm can maintain the divergence-free condition and area conservation very well.

Theory of the momentum source method for synthetic turbulence

The interaction between turbulence and blade leading edges is known to have a significant impact on the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance of propellers. In addition to directly simulating turbulence, synthetic turbulence, such as the momentum source method, has been developed as a popular method for studying this interaction process in computational fluid dynamics and computational aeroacoustics. However, it is found that for non-periodic disturbances, although the induced velocity field is divergence-free, spurious noise may be generated in the source region and contaminate simulation results. To address this issue, the present work proposes adding a correction term so that the divergence-free condition is satisfied globally and the unwanted acoustic waves are suppressed, as an extension to our previous work for time-periodic gusts [H. Jiang, Phys. Fluids 35, 096115 (2023)]. The strength of the proposed approach lies in its simplicity, flexibility, and generality. First, it derives explicit source terms, which are straightforward for numerical implementations, to generate unsteady flow fluctuations. Second, the sources can be added inside the computational domain, saving computational costs for turbulence convection and being compatible with most existing boundary conditions. Third, the proposed method can obtain analytical expressions for the needed momentum source of the Navier–Stokes equation subject to any desired isotropic or anisotropic divergence-free turbulence fields. The method has been verified by examples of synthesizing harmonic gusts, Gaussian eddies, and random turbulence. The synthetic velocity results characterized by different spectral components are directly compared to target velocity fields, verifying the proposed approach and showing its capability. Parameters that influence the distribution of added sources are systematically investigated to identify an optimal combination for different scenarios. Finally, the model is employed to evaluate the aerodynamic interaction between an incoming turbulence and a thin airfoil. The obtained results exhibit good correspondence with analytical solutions.

Investigating the effects of numerical algorithms on global magnetohydrodynamics simulations of solar wind in the inner heliosphere

This paper explores the effects of numerical algorithms on global magnetohydrodynamics simulations of solar wind (SW) in the inner heliosphere. To do so, we use sunRunner3D, a 3-D magnetohydrodynamics model that employs the boundary conditions generated by CORHEL and the PLUTO code to compute the plasma properties of the SW with the ideal magnetohydrodynamics approximation up to 1.1 AU in the inner heliosphere. Mainly, we define three different combinations of numerical algorithms based on their diffusion level. This diffusion level is related to the way of solving the magnetohydrodynamics equations using the finite volume formulation, and, therefore, we set in terms of the divergence-free condition methods, Riemann solvers, variable reconstruction schemes, limiters, and time-steeping algorithms. According to the simulation results, we demonstrate that sunRunner3D reproduces global features of Corotating Interaction Regions observed by Earth-based spacecraft for a set of Carrington rotations that cover a period that lays in the late declining phase of solar cycle 24, independently of the numerical algorithms. Moreover, statistical analyses between models and in-situ measurements show reasonable agreement with the observations, and remarkably, the high diffusive method matches better with in-situ data than low diffusive methods.

A novel vector potential random flow generation method for synthesizing divergence-free homogeneous isotropic turbulence with arbitrary spectra

A novel method, known as the vector potential random flow generation (VPRFG) method, is introduced for synthesizing divergence-free homogeneous isotropic turbulence with arbitrary spectra. First, the proposed approach employs the random-flow-generation-based method to create a vector potential field. Subsequent application of the curl operation to this field produces a turbulent flow that inherently satisfies the divergence-free condition. In the formulas of the proposed method, we explicitly impose arbitrary homogeneous isotropic three-dimensional spatial cross-spectral density (CSD) and Taylor's frozen hypothesis. This ensures that the generated turbulence conforms to prescribed statistical characteristics, including energy spectra, one-dimensional spatial power spectral density (PSD), temporal PSD, spatial coherence function, turbulent kinetic energy, and Reynolds stress. Additionally, the theoretical accuracy of the proposed method is validated through numerical examples, employing the von Kármán energy spectrum as the target value. Finally, large eddy simulations of homogeneous isotropic temporal-decaying box turbulence generated by the VPRFG method demonstrate a close alignment with the experimental results.

Three-dimensional magnetotelluric modeling with nontrivial anisotropy by a regularization approach

The regularization approach has been successfully applied to remove spurious solutions in the magnetotelluric (MT) forward problems of isotropic Earth media. However, spurious modes are more likely to occur in numerical solutions of anisotropic media, as electrical anisotropy introduces many more complications to electromagnetic (EM) induction in such media. This study focuses on developing the regularization approach to 3D MT forward problems of anisotropic media, especially those of nontrivial anisotropy. The governing equation is now derived with a conductivity tensor, and an accordingly adapted form of a scaled grad-div term is augmented to regularize the solutions and constrain the divergence-free condition. A new scaling scheme is proposed to cope with the complicated distribution of current densities in nontrivial anisotropy media, and an effective conductivity is approximated by the diagonal elements of the conductivity tensor to formulate the scaling factor. Numerical tests show that, for various models of electrical anisotropy, the regularization approach can effectively enforce the divergence condition and successfully suppress spurious solutions. Therefore, for nontrivial anisotropy media, this approach can also improve the efficiency of the iterative solvers while retaining the accuracy of the solutions. The derivation of the governing equation is based on the MT method. However, this strategy should be generally applicable to other frequency-domain EM methods.

Analysis of Aerodynamic Loads on Heliostats at Operation Position Using Large Eddy Simulation and the Consistent Discrete Random Flow Generation Method

Abstract This study utilizes the large eddy simulation model (LES) and a synthetic method based on the Fourier technique called consistent discrete random flow generation (CDRFG) to analyze the peak aerodynamic loads on heliostats due to the atmospheric boundary layer. With the CDRFG technique, key flow parameters, including mean velocity profile, turbulent intensities, integral length scales, and turbulent spectra generated in wind tunnels, can be replicated while also satisfying the divergence-free condition. A three-facet heliostat with an elevation angle of α = 45 deg and the rear aligned to the inflow was analyzed. The heliostat behaves like a lifting surface in this orientation, accentuating the aerodynamic effect. The methodology proposed in this study can accurately reproduce flow statistics and predict the peak loads. Compared to experimental data, differences of 2.62% for drag, 7.43% for lift, and 11.0% for overturning were observed. Furthermore, the simulation reveals the generation of wingtip vortices on the sides of the heliostat, which contribute to the aerodynamic load. Overall, this technique has been demonstrated to be effective in replicating the atmospheric boundary layer and predicting the aerodynamic coefficients of heliostats.

Global existence and decay estimates of solutions for the compressible Prandtl type equations with small analytic data

This paper aims to address the issues of the global existence and the large-time decay estimates of strong solutions for the two-dimensional compressible Prandtl equations with small initial data, which is analytical in the tangential variable. We investigate a more complicated system, which contains more physics than the incompressible system. Not only the loss of the horizontal derivative in the estimate of nonlinear terms, but also the failure to satisfy the divergence-free condition, may create significant difficulties when closing energy estimates. Motivated by Paicu and Zhang (2021) [36] for the incompressible case, we find a new quantity G=defu+y2〈t〉φ and derive a sufficiently fast decay-in-time estimate of some weighted analytic norm to G. Together with a linear combination of the tangential velocity u with its primitive one φ, which controls the evolution of the analytic radius to solutions ultimately. Another interesting feature of this paper is to take into account the influence of the density, however, the density is independent of the y variable. In order to avoid these obstacles, the approaches we take are some delicate treatments, including the special cut-off function and new inequalities in the process of energy estimates. This paper can be considered as a first global-in-time Cauchy–Kowalevsakya result for the compressible Prandtl equations with small analytic data.

Error analysis of the linearized Crank-Nicolson FEM for the incompressible vector potential magnetohydrodynamic system

A linearized fully discrete Crank-Nicolson finite element scheme is proposed for solving the three-dimensional incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations based on a magnetic vector potential formulation, where the magnetic induction is written to a rotation of magnetic vector potential. By using the MINI element and lowest order Nédélec edge element to approximate the velocity field and pressure of fluid and magnetic vector potential, respectively, the numerical solution of magnetic induction can preserve the exactly divergence-free condition in fully discrete level. Error estimates for the velocity field and magnetic vector potential are rigorously analyzed under some reasonable regularity assumptions of exact solution. Finally, numerical results are given to support the theoretical analysis.

A divergence-free vector finite-element method for efficient 3D magnetotelluric forward modeling

For large-scale magnetotelluric (MT) forward modeling using vector finite-element methods, iterative solvers are commonly applied. However, as frequency decreases close to zero, the iterative solution process struggles to converge. This is mainly caused by the fact that the weak conductivity term in the curl-curl equation governing the electromagnetic (EM) diffusion in the earth fades during the iterative solution for EM fields. This can lead to violation of the divergence-free condition for current and false jumps in the calculated fields. We develop a regularization technique for vector finite-element MT forward modeling, in which a scaled grad-div operator for electrical fields is included in the curl-curl equation to enforce the divergence-free condition explicitly. Because of its use of basis functions, the direct edge element discretization of the scaled term can lead to zero coefficients. To address this, an equivalent substitute of the scaled grad-div operator based on potential representation of electrical fields is used, discretized with node elements. For one specific element, this is finally reduced to a scaled gradient of the surface integral of current across all the surfaces of the element, resulting in better connectivity of the linear system of equations. The correctness of our algorithm is verified with two synthetic models and an inversion model from real data. The numerical performance is compared to the traditional iterative divergence correction technique (and without the application of the divergence correction for one case) for each of the three models. The results indicate that our algorithm is generally more efficient and stable compared to the traditional technique for all models at all periods considered, with significant improvement at long periods.

A coherence-improved and mass-balanced inflow turbulence generation method for large eddy simulation

Realistic inflow turbulence is crucial in large eddy simulations for obtaining accurate results. In this paper, an improved inflow turbulence generation method is proposed, called the coherence-improved and mass-balanced random flow generation (CMRFG) method. First, a study of the effect of the inlet mass-balanced condition is presented. Subsequently, the proposed method is explicitly deduced to satisfy arbitrary spatial coherence functions and the mass-balanced condition, so the generated turbulent fields effectively preserve the original turbulence characteristics, eliminating the need for additional inlet mass flux corrections. Meanwhile, the novel method retains the advantages of the previous method, satisfying arbitrary turbulence intensities, temporal spectra, temporal correlations, and spatial correlation coefficients. Additionally, the proposed method also ensures compliance with the divergence-free condition and Taylor's frozen hypothesis, which are essential for accurate flow field development. Finally, large eddy simulations of both homogeneous isotropic and anisotropic turbulent fields demonstrate that the turbulent fields generated by CMRFG closely align with experimental results and exhibit no artificial pressure fluctuations within the computational domain.

Weighted radial basis collocation method for large deformation analysis of rubber-like materials

A nonlinear formulation, based on the total Lagrange description of the weighted radial basis collocation method (WRBCM), is proposed for the large deformation analysis of rubber-like materials where the materials are hyperelastic and nearly incompressible. The WRBCM based on the strong form collocation is a genuinely meshfree method that eliminates the need for meshing. As a result, it effectively circumvents challenges associated with mesh distortion during large deformation analysis. The proper weights that should be imposed on the boundary collocation equations are first derived to achieve the optimal convergence in hyperelasticity. In the WRBCM, the support of the shape function remains unchanged throughout material deformation, thereby guaranteeing the absence of tension instability during large deformation analysis. Additionally, by combining WRBCM with a least-squares solution, volumetric locking in nearly incompressible hyperelastic problems can be suppressed. This is due to the infinite continuity possessed by the radial basis approximation, which ensures the divergence-free condition. Several numerical examples are examined, demonstrating the high accuracy and exponential convergence of WRBCM in hyperelastic large deformation analysis. Moreover, no volumetric locking can be observed which further substantiates the effectiveness of applying nonlinear WRBCM to nearly incompressible hyperelastic problems.

A well-balanced and exactly divergence-free staggered semi-implicit hybrid finite volume / finite element scheme for the incompressible MHD equations

We present a new exactly divergence-free and well-balanced hybrid finite volume/finite element scheme for the numerical solution of the incompressible viscous and resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations on staggered unstructured mixed-element meshes in two and three space dimensions. The equations are split into several subsystems, each of which is then discretized with a particular scheme that allows to preserve some fundamental structural features of the underlying governing PDE system also at the discrete level. The pressure is defined on the vertices of the primary mesh, while the velocity field and the normal components of the magnetic field are defined on an edge-based/face-based dual mesh in two and three space dimensions, respectively. This allows to account for the divergence-free conditions of the velocity field and of the magnetic field in a rather natural manner. The non-linear convective and the viscous terms in the momentum equation are solved at the aid of an explicit finite volume scheme, while the magnetic field is evolved in an exactly divergence-free manner via an explicit finite volume method based on a discrete form of the Stokes law in the edges/faces of each primary element. The latter method is stabilized by the proper choice of the numerical resistivity in the computation of the electric field in the vertices/edges of the 2D/3D elements. To achieve higher order of accuracy, a piecewise linear polynomial is reconstructed for the magnetic field, which is guaranteed to be exactly divergence-free via a constrained L2 projection. Finally, the pressure subsystem is solved implicitly at the aid of a classical continuous finite element method in the vertices of the primary mesh and making use of the staggered arrangement of the velocity, which is typical for incompressible Navier-Stokes solvers. In order to maintain non-trivial stationary equilibrium solutions of the governing PDE system exactly, which are assumed to be known a priori, each step of the new algorithm takes the known equilibrium solution explicitly into account so that the method becomes exactly well-balanced. We show numerous test cases in two and three space dimensions in order to validate our new method carefully against known exact and numerical reference solutions. In particular, this paper includes a very thorough study of the lid-driven MHD cavity problem in the presence of different magnetic fields and the obtained numerical solutions are provided as free supplementary electronic material to allow other research groups to reproduce our results and to compare with our data. We finally present long-time simulations of Soloviev equilibrium solutions in several simplified 3D tokamak configurations, showing that the new well-balanced scheme introduced in this paper is able to maintain stationary equilibria exactly over very long integration times even on very coarse unstructured meshes that, in general, do not need to be aligned with the magnetic field.