Low Mach Number Regime Research Articles

Extension of an all-Mach Roe scheme able to deal with low Mach acoustics to full Euler system

We propose to extend the fix of Roe’s approximate Riemann solver developed for the Barotropic Euler equations in [2] to the full Euler equations. This scheme is built mainly to handle low Mach acousticwaves. Moreover, compared to pressure-centered type schemes, this numerical fix has the advantage of improving the numerical solution in the sense that the oscillating modes are reduced. The theoretical study is based on a two-time scales asymptotic analysis. It is proved that the Euler system equipped with a general equation of state is consistent with a first-order wave system in a low Mach number regime. Similar analysis is performed at the discrete level on the Roe scheme to derive the new fix. Numerical tests confirm the results obtained for the Barotropic case about the ability of this fix to deal with both steady and low Mach acoustic computations also in the case of full Euler equations.

Statistical Analysis of Electric Currents Within the Magnetosheath Using Dayside Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Observations

AbstractEarth's magnetosheath is the region of shocked plasma that mediates coupling between the solar wind and magnetosphere. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations predict electric current closure across the magnetosheath from the bow shock to the magnetopause. These currents provide a J × B force that diverts plasma flow along the flanks of the magnetosphere. Observations by the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission show that within the magnetosheath there are large amplitude, localized currents during periods of intense turbulence. We perform a statistical analysis of magnetic field data from the first 6 years (2015–2021) of the MMS mission during intervals when the satellites are on the dayside and generate statistical maps of electric current derived using the curlometer technique. We find that during the low magnetosonic Mach number regime (MMS < 5), the predicted current closure pattern becomes apparent for northward and southward IMF orientations, but not dawnward or duskward. For MMS > 5, results suggest that for all IMF orientations this large‐scale current closure pattern is not apparent, even after separating out quasi‐perpendicular (θbn ≥ 45°) and quasi‐parallel (θbn < 45°) bow shock conditions. Instead, the magnetosheath is dominated by small‐scale filamented current sheets that may be attributed to magnetosheath turbulence.

Γ–convergence for nearly incompressible fluids

We consider the time-dependent compressible Navier–Stokes equations in the low Mach number regime in a family of domains Ωɛ ⊂ Rd converging in the sense of Mosco to a domain Ω ⊂ Rd, d ∈ {2, 3}. We show the limit is the incompressible Navier–Stokes system in Ω.

On a fully-implicit VMS-stabilized FE formulation for low Mach number compressible resistive MHD with application to MCF

This study presents the development and evaluation of a fully-implicit variational multiscale (VMS) stabilized unstructured finite element (FE) formulation for compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model, at low Mach number regime. The model describes the dynamics of a compressible conducting fluid in the low Mach number limit in the presence of electromagnetic fields and can be used to study aspects of astrophysical phenomena, important science and technology applications, and basic plasma physics phenomena. The specific applications that motivate this study are macroscopic simulations of the longer time-scale stability and disruptions of magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) devices, specifically the ITER tokamak. The discussion considers the development of the VMS FE representation, the structure of the stabilizing terms that deal with significant convective flows, the stabilization of the nearly incompressible response of the fluid flow, and the stabilization of the constraint that enforces the solenoidal involution on the magnetic field. The nonlinear discretized system is solved with scalable preconditioned Newton–Krylov iterative methods, which employs a multiphysics block preconditioning method based on approximate block factorizations and Schur complements. The study presents an evaluation of the VMS method on a 2D cartesian tearing mode instability, and illustrates the scalability of the solvers on MCF relevant problems. A set of results are also presented for longer time-scale stability and disruptions for the ITER tokamak. These include a vertical displacement event (VDE), and a (1,1) internal kink mode. The formulation is demonstrated to be scalable and also reasonably robust with respect to the Lundquist number scaling.

On the Motion of a Nearly Incompressible Viscous Fluid Containing a Small Rigid Body

We consider the motion of a compressible viscous fluid containing a moving rigid body confined to a planar domain Ω⊂R2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\Omega \\subset R^2$$\\end{document}. The main result states that the influence of the body on the fluid is negligible if (i) the diameter of the body is small and (ii) the fluid is nearly incompressible (the low Mach number regime). The specific shape of the body as well as the boundary conditions on the fluid–body interface are irrelevant and collisions with the boundary ∂Ω\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\partial \\Omega $$\\end{document} are allowed. The rigid body motion may be enforced externally or governed solely by its interaction with the fluid.

Dissipation and time step scaling strategies for low and high Mach number flows

Aircraft aerodynamic design often involves evaluating flow conditions that span low subsonic to transonic or even supersonic Mach numbers. Compressible flow solvers are a natural choice for such design problems, but these solvers suffer from reduced accuracy and efficiency at low Mach numbers. In addition, simulations with supersonic conditions can be challenging to converge because of large gradients in the flow field. This paper presents three contributions to address these issues in the context of an approximate Newton–Krylov solver for the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. First, we propose a method for scaling the artificial dissipation terms in the Jameson–Schmidt–Turkel scheme to improve its accuracy at low Mach numbers while retaining the simplicity of the original scalar dissipation formulation. Second, we show that characteristic time-stepping combined with an approximate Newton method can accelerate convergence for low Mach number flows by reducing the stiffness in the linear system for each Newton iteration. Third, we introduce a dissipation-based continuation method for flows with shocks that improves robustness and accelerates convergence without sacrificing accuracy. These methods can make compressible flow solvers more accurate and efficient across low and high Mach number regimes.

Rotating co-flow jets with horizontal lip and shape transition

Purpose Control over large-scale coherent structures and stream-wise vortices lead to enhanced entrainment/conservation of the jet which is desirable for most free jet applications such as design of combustion chamber in jet engines and flame length elongation of welding torch used for metal cutting. Design/methodology/approach A co-flow nozzle with lip thickness of 2 mm, between the primary (inner) and secondary (outer) flow, is selected. Three nozzle combinations are used, i.e. C–C (circle–circle), C–E (circle–ellipse) and C–S (circle–square) for acquiring comparative data. For these nozzle combinations, inner nozzle exit plane is kept as a circle, whereas the outer nozzle exit planes are varied to circle, ellipse and square. The exit plane area of outer nozzle for the nozzle combinations has equivalent diameter, De. The nozzles are fabricated in a way that the outer nozzle can be rotated along the longitudinal axis, keeping the inner nozzle intact. Findings The C–C nozzle combination is effective in low Mach number regime in decaying the jet, when the rotational component is introduced. Around 30% reduction in the jet core length is observed for the C–C nozzle combinations without any lip. The C–E nozzle shows sedative result in decaying or preserving the jet. The C–S nozzle combination shows interesting phenomenon, whereby the low subsonic case tends to conserve the jet by 15% and the higher subsonic case tends to decay the jet by 10%. Originality/value The developed nozzle systems show both conservative and destructive effect on the jet, which is desirable for the mentioned applications.

A homogeneous relaxation low mach number model

In the present paper, we investigate a new homogeneous relaxation model describing the behaviour of a two-phase fluid flow in a low Mach number regime, which can be obtained as a low Mach number approximation of the well-known HRM. For this specific model, we derive an equation of state to describe the thermodynamics of the two-phase fluid. We prove some theoretical properties satisfied by the solutions of the model, and provide a well-balanced scheme. To go further, we investigate the instantaneous relaxation regime, and prove the formal convergence of this model towards the low Mach number approximation of the well-known HEM. An asymptotic-preserving scheme is introduced to allow numerical simulations of the coupling between spatial regions with different relaxation characteristic times.

A semi-implicit hybrid finite volume/finite element scheme for all Mach number flows on staggered unstructured meshes

In this paper a new hybrid semi-implicit finite volume / finite element (FV/FE) scheme is presented for the numerical solution of the compressible Euler and Navier–Stokes equations at all Mach numbers on unstructured staggered meshes in two and three space dimensions. The chosen grid arrangement consists of a primal simplex mesh composed of triangles or tetrahedra, and an edge-based / face-based staggered dual mesh. The governing equations are discretized in conservation form. The nonlinear convective terms of the equations, as well as the viscous stress tensor and the heat flux, are discretized on the dual mesh at the aid of an explicit local ADER finite volume scheme, while the implicit pressure terms are discretized at the aid of a continuous P1 finite element method on the nodes of the primal mesh. In the zero Mach number limit, the new scheme automatically reduces to the hybrid FV/FE approach forwarded in [1] for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. As such, the method is asymptotically consistent with the incompressible limit of the governing equations and can therefore be applied to flows at all Mach numbers. Due to the chosen semi-implicit discretization, the CFL restriction on the time step is only based on the magnitude of the flow velocity and not on the sound speed, hence the method is computationally efficient at low Mach numbers. In the chosen discretization, the only unknown is the scalar pressure field at the new time step. Furthermore, the resulting pressure system is symmetric and positive definite and can therefore be very efficiently solved with a matrix-free conjugate gradient method.In order to assess the capabilities of the new scheme, we show computational results for a large set of benchmark problems that range from the quasi incompressible low Mach number regime to compressible flows with shock waves.

High order pressure-based semi-implicit IMEX schemes for the 3D Navier-Stokes equations at all Mach numbers

This article aims at developing a high order pressure-based solver for the solution of the 3D compressible Navier-Stokes system at all Mach numbers. We propose a cell-centered discretization of the governing equations that splits the fluxes into a fast and a slow scale part, that are treated implicitly and explicitly, respectively. A novel semi-implicit discretization is proposed for the kinetic energy as well as the enthalpy fluxes in the energy equation, hence avoiding any need of iterative solvers. The implicit discretization yields an elliptic equation on the pressure that can be solved for both ideal gas and general equation of state (EOS). A nested Newton method is used to solve the mildly nonlinear system for the pressure in case of nonlinear EOS. High order in time is granted by implicit-explicit (IMEX) time stepping, whereas a novel CWENO technique efficiently implemented in a dimension-by-dimension manner is developed for achieving high order in space for the discretization of explicit convective and viscous fluxes. A quadrature-free finite volume solver is then derived for the high order approximation of numerical fluxes. Central schemes with no dissipation of suitable order of accuracy are finally employed for the numerical approximation of the implicit terms. Consequently, the CFL-type stability condition on the maximum admissible time step is based only on the fluid velocity and not on the sound speed, so that the novel schemes work uniformly for all Mach numbers. Convergence and robustness of the proposed method are assessed through a wide set of benchmark problems involving low and high Mach number regimes, as well as inviscid and viscous flows.

An interface capturing method for liquid-gas flows at low-Mach number

Multiphase, compressible and viscous flows are of crucial importance in a wide range of scientific and engineering problems. Despite the large effort paid in the last decades to develop accurate and efficient numerical techniques to address this kind of problems, current models need to be further improved to address realistic applications. In this context, we propose a numerical approach to the simulation of multiphase, viscous flows where a compressible and an incompressible phase interact in the low-Mach number regime. In this frame, acoustics are neglected but large density variations of the compressible phase can be accounted for as well as heat transfer, convection and diffusion processes. The problem is addressed in a fully Eulerian framework exploiting a low-Mach number asymptotic expansion of the Navier-Stokes equations. A Volume of Fluid approach (VOF) is used to capture the liquid-gas interface, built on top of a massive parallel solver, second order accurate both in time and space. The second-order-pressure term is treated implicitly and the resulting pressure equation is solved with the eigenexpansion method employing a robust and novel formulation. We provide a detailed and complete description of the theoretical approach together with information about the numerical technique and implementation details. Results of benchmarking tests are provided for five different test cases.

High order semi-implicit weighted compact nonlinear scheme for the all-Mach isentropic Euler system

The computation of compressible flows at all Mach numbers is a very challenging problem. An efficient numerical method for solving this problem needs to have shock-capturing capability in the high Mach number regime, while it can deal with stiffness and accuracy in the low Mach number regime. This paper designs a high order semi-implicit weighted compact nonlinear scheme (WCNS) for the all-Mach isentropic Euler system of compressible gas dynamics. To avoid severe Courant-Friedrichs-Levy (CFL) restrictions for low Mach flows, the nonlinear fluxes in the Euler equations are split into stiff and non-stiff components. A third-order implicit-explicit (IMEX) method is used for the time discretization of the split components and a fifth-order WCNS is used for the spatial discretization of flux derivatives. The high order IMEX method is asymptotic preserving and asymptotically accurate in the zero Mach number limit. One- and two-dimensional numerical examples in both compressible and incompressible regimes are given to demonstrate the advantages of the designed IMEX WCNS.

Modelling low Mach number stellar hydrodynamics with MAESTROeX

Modelling long-time convective flows in the interiors of stars is extremely challenging using conventional compressible hydrodynamics codes due to the acoustic timestep limitation. Many of these flows are in the low Mach number regime, which allows us to exploit the relationship between acoustic and advective time scales to develop a more computationally efficient approach. MAESTROeX is an open source low Mach number stellar hydrodynamics code that allows much larger timesteps to be taken, therefore enabling systems to be modelled for much longer periods of time. This is particularly important for the problem of convection in the cores of rotating massive stars prior to core collapse. To fully capture the dynamics, it is necessary to model these systems in three dimensions at high resolution over many rotational periods. We present an overview of MAESTROeX’s current capabilities, describe ongoing work to incorporate the effects of rotation and discuss how we are optimising the code to run on GPUs.

On a Singular Limit for the Compressible Rotating Euler System

The work addresses a singular limit for a rotating compressible Euler system in the low Mach number and low Rossby number regime. Based on the concept of dissipative measure-valued solution, the quasi-geostrophic system is identified as the limit problem in the case of ill-prepared initial data. The ill-prepared initial data will cause rapidly oscillating acoustic waves. Using dispersive estimates of Strichartz type, the effect of the acoustic waves in the asymptotic limit is eliminated.

A low-diffusion self-adaptive flux-vector splitting approach for compressible flows

A low-diffusion self-adaptive flux-vector splitting method is presented for the Euler equations. The flux-vector is here split into convective and acoustic parts following the formulation recently proposed by the authors. This procedure is based on the Zha-Bilgen (or previously Baraille et al. for the Euler barotropic system) approach enriched by a dynamic flow-dependent splitting parameter based on the local Mach number. As a consequence, in the present self-adaptive splitting, the convective and acoustic parts decouple in the low-Mach number regime whereas the complete Euler equations are considered for the sonic and highly subsonic regimes. The low diffusive property of the present scheme is obtained by adding anti-diffusion terms to the momentum and the energy components of the pressure flux in the acoustic part of the present splitting. This treatment results from a formal invariance principle preserving the discrete incompressible phase space through the pressure operator. Numerical results for several carefully chosen one- and two-dimensional test problems are finally investigated to demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the proposed scheme for a wide variety of configurations from subsonic to highly subsonic flows.

Implicit MAC scheme for compressible Navier–Stokes equations: low Mach asymptotic error estimates

AbstractWe investigate the error between any discrete solution of the implicit marker-and-cell (MAC) numerical scheme for compressible Navier–Stokes equations in the low Mach number regime and an exact strong solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The main tool is the relative energy method suggested on the continuous level in Feireisl et al. (2012, Relative entropies, suitable weak solutions, and weak–strong uniqueness for the compressible Navier–Stokes system. J. Math. Fluid Mech., 14, 717–730). Our approach highlights the fact that numerical and mathematical analyses are not two separate fields of mathematics. The result is achieved essentially by exploiting in detail the synergy of analytical and numerical methods. We get an unconditional error estimate in terms of explicitly determined positive powers of the space–time discretization parameters and Mach number in the case of well-prepared initial data and in terms of the boundedness of the error if the initial data are ill prepared. The multiplicative constant in the error estimate depends on a suitable norm of the strong solution but it is independent of the numerical solution itself (and of course, on the discretization parameters and the Mach number). This is the first proof that the MAC scheme is unconditionally and uniformly asymptotically stable in the low Mach number regime.

A Staggered Semi-implicit Discontinuous Galerkin Scheme with a Posteriori Subcell Finite Volume Limiter for the Euler Equations of Gasdynamics

In this paper we propose a novel semi-implicit Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element scheme on staggered meshes with a posteriori subcell finite volume limiting for the one and two dimensional Euler equations of compressible gasdynamics. We therefore extend the strategy adopted by Dumbser and Casulli (Appl Math Comput 272:479–497, 2016), where the Euler equations have been solved solved using a semi-implicit finite volume scheme based on the flux-vector splitting method recently proposed by Toro and Vazquez-Cendon (Comput Fluids 70:1–12, 2012). In our scheme, the nonlinear convective terms are discretized explicitly, while the pressure terms are discretized implicitly. As a consequence, the time step is restricted only by a mild CFL condition based on the fluid velocity, which makes this method particularly suitable for simulations in the low Mach number regime. However, the conservative formulation of the scheme, together with the novel subcell finite volume limiter allows also the numerical simulation of high Mach number flows with shock waves. Inserting the discrete momentum equation into the discrete total energy conservation law yields a mildly nonlinear system with the scalar pressure as the only unknown. Due to the use of staggered meshes, the resulting pressure system has the most compact stencil possible and can be efficiently solved with modern iterative methods. In order to deal with shock waves or steep gradients, the new semi-implicit DG scheme proposed in this paper includes an a posteriori subcell finite volume limiting technique. This strategy was first proposed by Dumbser et al. (J Comput Phys 278:47–75, 2014) for explicit DG schemes on collocated grids and is based on the a posteriori MOOD algorithm of Clain, Loubere and Diot. Recently, this methodology was also extended to semi-implicit DG schemes on staggered meshes for the shallow water equations in Ioriatti and Dumbser (Appl Numer Math 135:443–480, 2019). Within the MOOD approach, an unlimited DG scheme first produces a so-called candidate solution for the next time level $$t^{n+1}$$. Later on, the control volumes with a non-admissible candidate solution are identified by using physical and numerical detection criteria, such as the positivity of the solution, the absence of floating point errors and the satisfaction of a relaxed discrete maximum principle (DMP). Then, in the detected troubled cells a more robust first order semi-implicit finite volume (FV) method is applied on a sub-grid composed of $$2P + 1$$ subcells, where P denotes the polynomial degree used in the DG scheme. For that purpose, the nonlinear convective terms are recomputed in the troubled cells using an explicit finite volume scheme on the subcell level. Also the linear system for the pressure needs to be assembled and solved again, but where now a low order semi-implicit finite volume scheme is used on the sub-cell level in all troubled DG elements, instead of the original high order DG method. Finally, the higher order DG polynomials are reconstructed from the piecewise constant subcell finite volume averages and the scheme proceeds to the next time step. In this paper we present, discuss and test this novel family of methods and simulate a set of classical numerical benchmark problems of compressible gasdynamics. Great attention is dedicated to 1D and 2D Riemann problems and we also show that for these test cases the scheme responds appropriately in the presence of shock waves and does not produce non-physical spurious numerical oscillations.

Asymptotic Preserving Low Mach Number Accurate IMEX Finite Volume Schemes for the Isentropic Euler Equations

In this paper, the design and analysis of a class of second order accurate IMEX finite volume schemes for the compressible Euler equations in the zero Mach number limit is presented. In order to account for the fast and slow waves, the nonlinear fluxes in the Euler equations are split into stiff and non-stiff components, respectively. The time discretisation is performed by an IMEX Runge–Kutta method, therein the stiff terms are treated implicitly and the non-stiff terms explicitly. In the space discretisation, a Rusanov-type central flux is used for the non-stiff part, and simple central differencing for the stiff part. Both the time semi-discrete and space-time fully-discrete schemes are shown to be asymptotic preserving. The numerical experiments confirm that the schemes achieve uniform second order convergence with respect to the Mach number. A notion of accuracy at low Mach numbers, termed as the asymptotic accuracy, is introduced in terms of the invariance of a well-prepared space of constant densities and divergence-free velocities. The asymptotic accuracy is concerned with the closeness of the compressible solution with that of its incompressible counterpart in a low Mach number regime. It is shown theoretically as well as numerically that the proposed schemes are asymptotically accurate.

An explicit gas kinetic scheme algorithm on non-uniform Cartesian meshes for GPGPU architectures

We present an efficient algorithm of a two-dimensional Gas Kinetic Scheme (GKS) suitable for General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs). The algorithm features conservative second order quadtree-type refinement for Cartesian meshes and nested time stepping. The implementation is validated for several incompressible and thermal compressible test cases in the low Mach (Ma) number regime. We find that heat transfer for high Rayleigh (Ra) number and turbulent convection can be simulated correctly. Finally, we demonstrate a simulation of a Rayleigh-Bénard setup with Ra=1013 that qualitatively resembles the conditions of fire on a room scale. The implementation delivers a performance of more than one billion cell updates per second.

A divergence-free semi-implicit finite volume scheme for ideal, viscous, and resistive magnetohydrodynamics.

SummaryIn this paper, we present a novel pressure‐based semi‐implicit finite volume solver for the equations of compressible ideal, viscous, and resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The new method is conservative for mass, momentum, and total energy, and in multiple space dimensions, it is constructed in such a way as to respect the divergence‐free condition of the magnetic field exactly, also in the presence of resistive effects. This is possible via the use of multidimensional Riemann solvers on an appropriately staggered grid for the time evolution of the magnetic field and a double curl formulation of the resistive terms. The new semi‐implicit method for the MHD equations proposed here discretizes the nonlinear convective terms as well as the time evolution of the magnetic field explicitly, whereas all terms related to the pressure in the momentum equation and the total energy equation are discretized implicitly, making again use of a properly staggered grid for pressure and velocity. Inserting the discrete momentum equation into the discrete energy equation then yields a mildly nonlinear symmetric and positive definite algebraic system for the pressure as the only unknown, which can be efficiently solved with the (nested) Newton method of Casulli et al. The pressure system becomes linear when the specific internal energy is a linear function of the pressure. The time step of the scheme is restricted by a CFL condition based only on the fluid velocity and the Alfvén wave speed and is not based on the speed of the magnetosonic waves. Being a semi‐implicit pressure‐based scheme, our new method is therefore particularly well suited for low Mach number flows and for the incompressible limit of the MHD equations, for which it is well known that explicit density‐based Godunov‐type finite volume solvers become increasingly inefficient and inaccurate because of the more and more stringent CFL condition and the wrong scaling of the numerical viscosity in the incompressible limit. We show a relevant MHD test problem in the low Mach number regime where the new semi‐implicit algorithm is a factor of 50 faster than a traditional explicit finite volume method, which is a very significant gain in terms of computational efficiency. However, our numerical results confirm that our new method performs well also for classical MHD test cases with strong shocks. In this sense, our new scheme is a true all Mach number flow solver.