Equations In Complex Geometries Research Articles

Entropically damped artificial compressibility for the discretization corrected particle strength exchange method in incompressible fluid mechanics

We present a consistent mesh-free numerical scheme for solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Our method is based on entropically damped artificial compressibility for imposing the incompressibility constraint explicitly, and the Discretization-Corrected Particle Strength Exchange (DC-PSE) method to consistently discretize the differential operators on mesh-free particles. We further couple our scheme with Brinkman penalization to solve the Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries. The method is validated using the 3D Taylor–Green vortex flow and the lid-driven cavity flow problem in 2D and 3D, where we also compare our method with hr-SPH and report better accuracy for DC-PSE. In order to validate DC-PSE Brinkman penalization, we study flow past obstacles, such as a cylinder, and report excellent agreement with previous studies.

Local-basis difference potentials method for elliptic PDEs in complex geometry

We develop efficient and high-order accurate finite difference methods for elliptic partial differential equations in complex geometry in the difference potentials framework. The main novelty of the developed schemes is the use of local basis functions defined at near-boundary grid points. The use of local basis functions allows unified numerical treatment of (i) explicitly and implicitly defined geometry; (ii) geometry of more complicated shapes, such as those with corners, multi-connected domain, etc; and (iii) different types of boundary conditions. This geometrically flexible approach is complementary to the classical difference potentials method using global basis functions, especially in the case where a large number of global basis functions are needed to resolve the boundary, or where the optimal global basis functions are difficult to obtain. Fast Poisson solvers based on FFT are employed for standard, centered finite difference stencils regardless of the designed order of accuracy. Proofs of convergence of difference potentials in maximum norm are outlined both theoretically and numerically.

Fully non-linear degenerate elliptic equations in complex geometry

We derive an a priori real Hessian estimate for solutions of a large family of geometric fully non-linear elliptic equations on compact Hermitian manifolds, which is independent of a lower bound for the right-hand side function. This improves on the estimates of Székelyhidi [57] and additionally applies to elliptic equations with a degenerate right-hand side. As an application, we establish the optimal C1,1 regularity of envelopes of (θ,m)-subharmonic functions on compact Hermitian manifolds.

Higher-order accurate diffuse-domain methods for partial differential equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions in complex, evolving geometries

The diffuse-domain, or smoothed boundary, method is an attractive approach for solving partial differential equations in complex geometries because of its simplicity and flexibility. In this method the complex geometry is embedded into a larger, regular domain. The original PDE is reformulated using a smoothed characteristic function of the complex domain and source terms are introduced to approximate the boundary conditions. The reformulated equation, which is independent of the dimension and domain geometry, can be solved by standard numerical methods and the same solver can be used for any domain geometry. A challenge is making the method higher-order accurate. For Dirichlet boundary conditions, which we focus on here, current implementations demonstrate a wide range in their accuracy but generally the methods yield at best first order accuracy in ϵ, the parameter that characterizes the width of the region over which the characteristic function is smoothed. Typically, ϵ∝h, the grid size. Here, we analyze the diffuse-domain PDEs using matched asymptotic expansions and explain the observed behaviors. Our analysis also identifies simple modifications to the diffuse-domain PDEs that yield higher-order accuracy in ϵ, e.g., O(ϵ2) in the L2 norm and O(ϵp) with 1.5≤p≤2 in the L∞ norm. Our analytic results are confirmed numerically in stationary and moving domains where the level set method is used to capture the dynamics of the domain boundary and to construct the smoothed characteristic function.

Localized MFS for the inverse Cauchy problems of two-dimensional Laplace and biharmonic equations

This paper makes a first attempt to use a new localized method of fundamental solutions (LMFS) to accurately and stably solve the inverse Cauchy problems of two-dimensional Laplace and biharmonic equations in complex geometries. The LMFS firstly divides the whole physical domain into several small overlapping subdomains, and then employs the traditional method of fundamental solutions (MFS) formulation in every local subdomain for calculating the unknown coefficients on the local fictitious boundary. After that, a sparse linear system is formed by using the governing equation for interior nodes and the nodes on under-specified boundary, and by using the given boundary conditions for the nodes on over-specified boundary. Finally, the numerical solutions of the inverse problems can be obtained by solving the resultant sparse system. Compared with the traditional MFS with the “global” boundary discretization, the LMFS requires less computational cost, which may make the LMFS suitable for solving large-scale problems. Numerical experiments demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the proposed LMFS for the inverse Cauchy problems of two-dimensional Laplace and biharmonic equations with noisy boundary data.

Cavity electrodynamics with Hermite interpolation: Role of symmetry and degeneracies

We show that the present approaches for the solution of Maxwell’s equations in complex geometries have limitations that can be overcome through the use of C(1)-continuous Hermite interpolation polynomials. Our approach of calculating fields using the Hermite finite element method yields better accuracy by several orders of magnitude than comparable applications of the edge-based vector finite element method. We note that the vector finite element that is widely used yields pixelated solutions and ill-defined vector solutions at nodes. Our solutions have a smooth representation within and across the elements and well defined directions for the fields at the nodes. We reexamine the issue of removing spurious zero-frequency solutions. We investigate fields in an empty cubic metallic cavity and explain the level degeneracy that is larger than what is to be expected from the geometrical Oh symmetry of the cube. This behavior is identified as an example of “accidental degeneracy” and is explained in detail. We show that the inclusion of a smaller dielectric cube of relative permittivity ϵ2 within the cubic cavity leads to the removal of this accidental degeneracy so that the eigenfields have the symmetry Oh. A further reduction of symmetry is obtained by allowing the dielectric function in the enclosed cube to have a linear dependence on z. The proposed method should be effective in obtaining results for scalar-vector coupled field problems such as in modeling quantum well cavity lasers and in plasmonics modeling, while allowing multi-scale physical calculations.

Nodal integral method for convection-diffusion transport using linear and higher order quadrilateral elements

Generic nodal integral method (NIM) based scheme, utilizing nine noded 2D quadratic elements along with four noded 2D linear elements, is developed to solve the fluid flow and heat transfer equations in complex geometries. Non-linear (quadratic) quadrilateral elements are used for discretization of boundary region and linear quadrilateral elements are used for interior region. Lagrange interpolation functions are used to map both type of elements to corresponding square computational elements. The scheme for Neumann and mixed type of boundary conditions are also developed for quadratic elements. C1 type continuity condition is imposed at the interfaces of adjacent elements. Numerical results are compared with analytical solutions for diffusion and advection-diffusion equations. Results for Navier–Stokes equations in curved domain are compared with previously reported experimental as well as numerical results. The comparative study has also been done between presently developed scheme using quadratic and linear elements (referred as scheme-1) and scheme based on complete discretization with linear elements (referred as scheme-2). The comparison shows that both the schemes are of nearly second order accurate while the scheme-1 is more accurate than scheme-2. The results show that the efficient mapping of curved surface with quadratic elements improves the accuracy of NIM schemes.

A unified deep artificial neural network approach to partial differential equations in complex geometries

In this paper we use deep feedforward artificial neural networks to approximate solutions to partial differential equations in complex geometries. We show how to modify the backpropagation algorithm to compute the partial derivatives of the network output with respect to the space variables which is needed to approximate the differential operator. The method is based on an ansatz for the solution which requires nothing but feedforward neural networks and an unconstrained gradient based optimization method such as gradient descent or a quasi-Newton method. We show an example where classical mesh based methods cannot be used and neural networks can be seen as an attractive alternative. Finally, we highlight the benefits of deep compared to shallow neural networks and device some other convergence enhancing techniques.

Simulating the Influence of Buildings on Flood Inundation in Urban Areas

Two-dimensional hydraulic modeling is fundamental to simulate flood events in urban area. Key factors to reach optimal results are detailed information about domain geometry and utility of hydrodynamic models to integrate the full or simplified Saint Venant equations in complex geometry. However, in some cases, detailed topographic datasets that represent the domain geometry are not available, so approximations—such as diffusive wave equation—is introduced whilst representing urban area with an adjusted roughness coefficient. In the present paper, different methods to represent buildings and approximation of the Saint Venant equations are tested by performing experiments on a scale physical model of urban district in laboratory. Simplified methods are tested for simulation of a real flood event which occurred in 2013 in the city of Olbia, Italy. Results show that accuracy of simulating flow depth with a detailed geometry is comparable to the one achieved with an adjusted roughness coefficient.

Modal spectral element method in curvilinear domains

We present a high-order spectral element method (SEM) using modal or hierarchical basis for modeling of the two-dimensional linear and non-linear partial differential equations in complex geometry. The discretization is based on conforming spectral element in space and finite difference methods in time. Unlike the nodal SEM which is based on the Lagrange polynomials associated with the Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre or Chebyshev quadrature nodes, the Lobatto polynomials are used in this paper as modal basis. Using modal bases, due to their orthogonal properties, enables us to obtain the elemental matrices efficiently in the linear problems. The difficulty of implementation of modal approximations for non-linear problems is treated in this paper by expanding the non-linear terms in the weak form of differential equations in terms of the Lobatto polynomials on each element using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm. Utilization of Fourier interpolation on equidistant points in the FFT algorithm can be suitable at minimizing aliasing error. On the other hand, the polynomial order of approximations for non-linear terms can be sufficiently large to capture major variations and render the aliasing error so small. The proposed approach also leads to finding numerical solution of a non-linear differential equation through solving a system of linear algebraic equations. The non-constant Jacobian, as well as any non-polynomial coefficients and nonlinearities arisen in the entries of mass and stiffness matrices are expanded in terms of the Legendre polynomials by FFT algorithm and so they can be produced in the complex geometry accurately even in a tensor product form. Efficiency and exponential convergence properties of the approximation scheme are validated through several non-trivial examples in the numerical results section.

A Tensor-Train accelerated solver for integral equations in complex geometries

We present a framework using the Quantized Tensor Train (qtt) decomposition to accurately and efficiently solve volume and boundary integral equations in three dimensions. We describe how the qtt decomposition can be used as a hierarchical compression and inversion scheme for matrices arising from the discretization of integral equations. For a broad range of problems, computational and storage costs of the inversion scheme are extremely modest O(log⁡N) and once the inverse is computed, it can be applied in O(Nlog⁡N).We analyze the qtt ranks for hierarchically low rank matrices and discuss its relationship to commonly used hierarchical compression techniques such as fmm and hss. We prove that the qtt ranks are bounded for translation-invariant systems and argue that this behavior extends to non-translation invariant volume and boundary integrals.For volume integrals, the qtt decomposition provides an efficient direct solver requiring significantly less memory compared to other fast direct solvers. We present results demonstrating the remarkable performance of the qtt-based solver when applied to both translation and non-translation invariant volume integrals in 3d.For boundary integral equations, we demonstrate that using a qtt decomposition to construct preconditioners for a Krylov subspace method leads to an efficient and robust solver with a small memory footprint. We test the qtt preconditioners in the iterative solution of an exterior elliptic boundary value problem (Laplace) formulated as a boundary integral equation in complex, multiply connected geometries.

A comparative study of Brinkman penalization and direct-forcing immersed boundary methods for compressible viscous flows

This paper deals with the comparison between two methods to treat immersed boundary conditions: on the one hand, the Brinkman penalization method (BPM); on the other hand, the direct-forcing method (DFM). The penalty method treats the solid as a porous medium with a very low permeability. It provides a simple and efficient approach for solving the Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries with fixed boundaries or in the presence of moving objects. A new approach for the penalty-operator integration is proposed, based on a Strang splitting between the penalization terms and the convection-diffusion terms. Doing so, the penalization term can be computed exactly. The momentum term can then be computed first and then introduced into the continuity equation in an implicit manner. The direct-forcing method however uses ghost-cells to reconstruct the values inside the solid boundaries by projection of the image points from the interface. This method is comparatively hard to implement in 3D cases and for moving boundaries. In the present paper, the performance of both methods is assessed through a variety of test problems. The application concerns the unsteady transonic and supersonic fluid flows. Examples include a normal shock reflection off a solid wall, transonic shock/boundary layer in a viscous shock tube, supersonic shock/cylinder interaction, and supersonic turbulent channel flow. The obtained results are validated against either analytical or reference solutions. The numerical comparison shows that, with sufficient mesh resolution, the BPM and the DFM methods yield qualitatively similar results. In all considered cases, the BPM is found to be a suitable and a possibly competitive method for viscous-IBM in terms of predictive performance, accuracy and computational cost. However, despite its simplicity, the method suffers from a lack of regularity in the very near-wall pressure fluctuations, especially for the turbulent case. This is attributed to the fact that the method requires no specific pressure condition at the fluid/solid interface.

$$C^{2,\alpha }$$ C 2 , α regularities and estimates for nonlinear elliptic and parabolic equations in geometry

We give sharp $C^{2,\alpha}$ estimates for solutions of some fully nonlinear elliptic and parabolic equations in complex geometry and almost complex geometry, assuming a bound on the Laplacian of the solution. We also prove the analogous results to complex Monge-Amp\`{e}re equations with conical singularities. As an application, we obtain a local estimate for Calabi-Yau equation in almost complex geometry. We also improve the $C^{2,\alpha}$ regularities and estimates for viscosity solutions to some uniformly elliptic and parabolic equations. All our results are optimal regarding the H\"{o}lder exponent.

An efficient implicit spectral element method for time-dependent nonlinear diffusion equations by evaluating integrals at one quadrature point

We present an implicit spectral element method to approximate the solution of time-dependent nonlinear diffusion equations in complex geometries. We propose a nodal expansion to approximate derivatives of an unknown function, so integrals involving nonlinearities are evaluated at one quadrature point and discrete form of nonlinear diffusion equations is obtained without forming local and global stiffness matrices. Using the method-of-lines (MoL), the nonlinear partial differential equation is reduced to a nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations such that the MoL formulation is derived in terms of the differentiation matrix instead of the stiffness matrix. Since the arising system is stiff, an implicit method is employed to solve it. Also, with a simple algorithm we obtain a closed analytical form for the Jacobian matrix of the system of nonlinear algebraic equations. In addition, the differentiation matrices for triangular elements and deformed quadrilateral and hexahedral elements are obtained. For deformed elements an isoparametric mapping is used where the expansion coefficients are obtained with the aid of the Gordon–Hall mapping. Several benchmarks, including the scalar and system of these equations, are carried out. As physical applications, the cell motion model over long time, the tumour angiogenesis model on a mixed quadrangle–triangle mesh, and two and three-dimensional p-Laplace equations for various choices of the parameter p are considered.

Direct spectral domain decomposition method for 2D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

An efficient direct spectral domain decomposition method is developed coupled with Chebyshev spectral approximation for the solution of 2D, unsteady and incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in complex geometries. In this numerical approach, the spatial domains of interest are decomposed into several non-overlapping rectangular sub-domains. In each sub-domain, an improved projection scheme with second-order accuracy is used to deal with the coupling of velocity and pressure, and the Chebyshev collocation spectral method (CSM) is adopted to execute the spatial discretization. The influence matrix technique is employed to enforce the continuities of both variables and their normal derivatives between the adjacent sub-domains. The imposing of the Neumann boundary conditions to the Poisson equations of pressure and intermediate variable will result in the indeterminate solution. A new strategy of assuming the Dirichlet boundary conditions on interface and using the first-order normal derivatives as transmission conditions to keep the continuities of variables is proposed to overcome this trouble. Three test cases are used to verify the accuracy and efficiency, and the detailed comparison between the numerical results and the available solutions is done. The results indicate that the present method is efficiency, stability, and accuracy.

An adaptive finite volume method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries

An adaptive finite volume method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries

$$C^{2,\alpha }$$ C 2 , α estimates for nonlinear elliptic equations in complex and almost complex geometry

We describe how to use the perturbation theory of Caffarelli to prove Evans–Krylov type $$C^{2,\alpha }$$ estimates for solutions of nonlinear elliptic equations in complex geometry, assuming a bound on the Laplacian of the solution. Our results can be used to replace the various Evans–Krylov type arguments in the complex geometry literature with a sharper and more unified approach. In addition, our methods extend to almost-complex manifolds, and we use this to obtain a new local estimate for an equation of Donaldson.

A multi-block ADI finite-volume method for incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries

An efficient second-order accurate finite-volume method is developed for a solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on complex multi-block structured curvilinear grids. Unlike in the finite-volume or finite-difference-based alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) methods, where factorization of the coordinate transformed governing equations is performed along generalized coordinate directions, in the proposed method, the discretized Cartesian form Navier–Stokes equations are factored along curvilinear grid lines. The new ADI finite-volume method is also extended for simulations on multi-block structured curvilinear grids with which complex geometries can be efficiently resolved. The numerical method is first developed for an unsteady convection–diffusion equation, then is extended for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The order of accuracy and stability characteristics of the present method are analyzed in simulations of an unsteady convection–diffusion problem, decaying vortices, flow in a lid-driven cavity, flow over a circular cylinder, and turbulent flow through a planar channel. Numerical solutions predicted by the proposed ADI finite-volume method are found to be in good agreement with experimental and other numerical data, while the solutions are obtained at much lower computational cost than those required by other iterative methods without factorization. For a simulation on a grid with O(10 5) cells, the computational time required by the present ADI-based method for a solution of momentum equations is found to be less than 20% of that required by a method employing a biconjugate-gradient-stabilized scheme.

A two‐phase adaptive finite element method for solid–fluid coupling in complex geometries

AbstractIn this paper we present a method to solve the Navier–Stokes equations in complex geometries, such as porous sands, using a finite‐element solver but without the complexity of meshing the porous space. The method is based on treating the solid boundaries as a second fluid and solving a set of equations similar to those used for multi‐fluid flow. When combined with anisotropic mesh adaptivity, it is possible to resolve complex geometries starting with an arbitrary coarse mesh. The approach is validated by comparing simulation results with available data in three test cases. In the first we simulate the flow past a cylinder. The second test case compares the pressure drop in flow through random packs of spheres with the Ergun equation. In the last case simulation results are compared with experimental data on the flow past a simplified vehicle model (Ahmed body) at high Reynolds number using large‐eddy simulation (LES). Results are in good agreement with all three reference models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Performance of embedded boundary methods for CFD with complex geometry

In this paper, we discuss some of the issues in obtaining high performance for block-structured adaptive mesh refinement software for partial differential equations in complex geometry using embedded boundary/volume-of-fluid methods. We present the design of an adaptive embedded boundary multigrid algorithm for elliptic problems. We show examples in which this new elliptic solver scales to 1000 processors. We also apply this technology to more complex mathematical and physical algorithms for incompressible fluid dynamics and demonstrate similar scaling.