Goal-oriented Mesh Refinement Research Articles

Meshing strategies for 3d geo-electromagnetic modeling in the presence of metallic infrastructure

In 3D geo-electromagnetic modeling, an adequate discretisation of the modeling domain is crucial to obtain accurate forward responses and reliable inversion results while reducing the computational cost. This paper investigates the mesh design for subsurface models, including steel-cased wells, which is relevant for many exploration settings but still remains a numerically challenging task. Applying a goal-oriented mesh refinement technique and subsequent calculations with the high-order edge finite element method, simulations of 3D controlled-source electromagnetic models in the presence of metallic infrastructure are performed. Two test models are considered, each needing a distinct version of approximation methods to incorporate the conductive steel casings of the included wells. The influence of mesh quality, goal-oriented meshing, and high-order approximations on problem sizes, computational cost, and accuracy of electromagnetic responses is investigated. The main insights of our work are: (a) the applied numerical schemes can mitigate the computational burden of geo-electromagnetic modeling in the presence of steel artifacts; (b) investigating the processes driving the meshing of models with embedded metallic infrastructures can lead to adequate strategies to deal with the inversion of such electromagnetic data sets. Based on the modeling results and analyses conducted, general recommendations for modeling strategies are proposed when performing simulations for challenging steel infrastructure scenarios.

Efficient goal-oriented mesh refinement in 3-D finite-element modelling adapted for controlled source electromagnetic surveys

SUMMARY We developed a 3-D forward modelling code, which simulates controlled source electromagnetic problems in frequency domain using edge-based finite elements and a total electric field approach. To evaluate electromagnetic data acquired across complex subsurface structures, software performing accurate 3-D modelling is required, especially for incorporation in inversion approaches. Our modelling code aims at finding a good compromise between the necessary solution accuracy at the points of interest and the general problem size by using a goal-oriented mesh refinement strategy designed for models of variable electric conductivity and magnetic permeability. To formulate an improved error estimator suitable for controlled source electromagnetic problems, we developed literature approaches of mesh refinement further targeting three aspects. First, to generate a roughly homogeneously fine mesh discretization around all receiver sites, our new error estimator weights the adjoint source term by the approximate decay of the electric field with increasing distance from the primal source using the expression for a homogeneous half-space. This causes almost no additional computational cost. Second, the error estimator employed in the refinement approach can be optimized for models with pronounced conductivity and magnetic permeability contrasts as often encountered in, for example, mineral prospecting scenarios by optionally including terms that measure the continuity of the normal component of current flow and the tangential component of the magnetic field across interfaces of abutting elements. Third, to avoid amplitude-dependent over-refining of the mesh, we formulate our element-wise error estimators relative to the local amplitude of the electromagnetic field. In this work, we evaluate the implemented adaptive mesh refinement approach and its solution accuracy comparing our solutions for simple 1-D models and a model with 3-D anomalies to semi-analytic 1-D solutions and a second-order finite-element code, respectively. Furthermore, a feasibility study for controlled-source electromagnetic measurements across ferrous mineral deposits is conducted. The numerical experiments demonstrate that our new refinement procedure generates problem-specific finite-element meshes and yields accurate solutions for both simple synthetic models and realistic survey scenarios. Especially for the latter, characteristics of our code, such as the possibility of modelling extended sources as well as including arbitrary receiver distributions and detailed subsurface anomalies, are beneficial.

Multiscale modeling using goal-oriented adaptivity and numerical homogenization. Part I: Mathematical formulation and numerical results

This paper is the first in this series to develop a numerical homogenization method for heterogeneous media and integrate it with goal-oriented finite element mesh adaptivity. We describe the physical application, Step and Flash Imprint Lithography, in brief and present the mathematical ideas and numerical verification. The method requires the Moore–Penrose pseudoinverse of element stiffness matrices. Algorithms for efficiently computing the pseudoinverse of sparse matrices will be presented in the second paper.The purpose of numerical homogenization is to reduce the number of degrees of freedom, find locally optimal effective material properties, and perform goal-oriented mesh refinement. Traditionally, a finite element mesh is designed after obtaining material properties in different regions. The mesh has to resolve material discontinuities and rapid variations in the solution. In our approach, however, we generate a sequence of coarse meshes (possibly 1-irregular), and homogenize material properties on each coarse mesh element using a locally posed constrained convex quadratic optimization problem. This upscaling is done using the Moore–Penrose pseudoinverse of the linearized fine-scale element stiffness matrices, and a material-independent interpolation operator.Numerical verification is done using a two dimensional conductivity problem with known analytical limit. Finally, we present results for two and three dimensional geometries. The results show that this method uses orders of magnitude fewer degrees of freedom to give fast and approximate solutions of the original fine-scale problem.

Adjoint-based error estimation and adaptive mesh refinement for the RANS and k– ω turbulence model equations

In this article we present the extension of the a posteriori error estimation and goal-oriented mesh refinement approach from laminar to turbulent flows, which are governed by the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes and k– ω turbulence model (RANS- kω) equations. In particular, we consider a discontinuous Galerkin discretization of the RANS- kω equations and use it within an adjoint-based error estimation and adaptive mesh refinement algorithm that targets the reduction of the discretization error in single as well as in multiple aerodynamic force coefficients. The accuracy of the error estimation and the performance of the goal-oriented mesh refinement algorithm is demonstrated for various test cases, including a two-dimensional turbulent flow around a three-element high lift configuration and a three-dimensional turbulent flow around a wing-body configuration.