Second-order Finite Volume Scheme Research Articles

A well-balanced second-order finite volume approximation for a coupled system of granular flow

A well-balanced second-order finite volume scheme is proposed and analyzed for a 2×2 system of non-linear partial differential equations which describes the dynamics of growing sandpiles created by a vertical source on a flat, bounded rectangular table in multiple dimensions. To derive a second-order scheme, we combine a MUSCL type spatial reconstruction with strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta time stepping method. The resulting scheme is ensured to be well-balanced through a modified limiting approach that allows the scheme to revert to a well-balanced first-order scheme if it fails to capture or preserve the discrete steady state solution during its time evolution. Further, the scheme maintains the second-order accuracy away from the steady state. The well-balance property of the scheme is proven analytically in one dimension and demonstrated numerically in two dimensions. Additionally, numerical experiments reveal that the second-order scheme reduces finite time oscillations and provides better resolutions of the physical properties of the state variables, as compared to the existing first-order schemes of the literature.

Energy stable and structure-preserving schemes for the stochastic Galerkin shallow water equations

The shallow water flow model is widely used to describe water flows in rivers, lakes, and coastal areas. Accounting for uncertainty in the corresponding transport-dominated nonlinear PDE models presents theoretical and numerical challenges that motivate the central advances of this paper. Starting with a spatially one-dimensional hyperbolicity-preserving, positivity-preserving stochastic Galerkin formulation of the parametric/uncertain shallow water equations, we derive an entropy-entropy flux pair for the system. We exploit this entropy-entropy flux pair to construct structure-preserving second-order energy conservative, and first- and second-order energy stable finite volume schemes for the stochastic Galerkin shallow water system. The performance of the methods is illustrated on several numerical experiments.

Erratum to : “A family of second-order dissipative finite volume schemes for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws”

Erratum to : “A family of second-order dissipative finite volume schemes for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws”

Theoretical Study of Non-Isothermal Gradient Elution Liquid Chromatography.

A two-component model of gradient elution chromatography is investigated to theoretically study the effects of simultaneous variations in temperature and solvent strength on the retention behaviors of elution profiles in thermally insulated liquid chromatographic columns. The gradient elution technique is based on the gradual increase or decrease in eluent strength during the chromatographic operation by varying the composition of the mobile phase. The enthalpy of adsorption is primarily responsible for internal temperature variations inside the column, as heat adsorbs during the adsorption process and releases in the desorption phase. Both types of variations change the propagation speeds of moving pulses inside the column which can lead to better separation of the components and a reduction in the recycling time for the next injection. The equilibrium dispersive model (EDM) coupled with the energy balance equation for temperature and transport equation for the volume fraction of the solvent is utilized to simulate this complex process. The resulting nonlinear model equations are approximated by applying a semi-discrete second-order finite volume scheme. The numerical solutions are used to study the impact of a gradient starting and ending times, volume-fraction of the solvent, solvent strength parameter, the slope of gradient, enthalpy of adsorption, injection temperature, and the ratio of specific heats on the concentration profiles.

Analysis of Liquid Chromatography Considering a Linear Single-Component Heterogeneous-Type Reactive General Rate Model.

This paper elaborates on the significance of liquid chromatography for a single-component reactive linear general rate model. The model equations consist of a set of two coupled partial differential equations, which include diffusion, interfacial mass transfer, axial dispersion, external and intraparticle pore diffusivity, and heterogeneous chemical reaction of the first order with two sets of boundary conditions. The model equations are solved by the Laplace transformation. The actual time domain solution is obtained by numerical Laplace inversion, as analytical inversion cannot be obtained. The graphical sketch of different physical parameters is presented to analyze the dynamics of the elution profiles. The result indicates that the chromatographic reactor works more efficiently on increasing the value of the heterogeneous-type first-order reaction. To check the analytical results, a second-order high-resolution finite volume scheme is used. Both results are in good agreement and indicate the correctness of the numerical scheme. The current work is also compared with the previously available numerical schemes, which shows that the proposed numerical scheme is better for elaborating the chromatographic reactor performance. A comparison table is also presented to compute error analysis and computational run time for analyzing the efficiency of the reactor. A graphical sketch of the numerical temporal moment analysis is also presented, which gives significant information about the performance and the shape of the concentration profiles.

Global entropy stability for a class of unlimited second-order schemes for 2D hyperbolic systems of conservation laws on unstructured meshes

We introduce a class of second-order accurate finite volume schemes defined on two dimensional unstructured meshes. They satisfy a global discrete entropy stability for an arbitrary strictly convex entropy provided the second-order discretization verifies a dissipative inequality. These schemes do not require usual limitation techniques. Numerical experiments are performed to confirm the accuracy and the shock capturing efficiency of the schemes.

An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method for fluid–structure interactions due to underwater explosions

Purpose This study aims to evaluate blast loads on and the response of submerged structures. Design/methodology/approach An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method is developed to model fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems of close-in underwater explosions (UNDEX). The “fluid” part provides the loads for the structure considers air, water and high explosive materials. The spatial discretization for the fluid domain is performed with a second-order vertex-based finite volume scheme with a tangent of hyperbola interface capturing technique. The temporal discretization is based on explicit Runge–Kutta methods. The structure is described by a large-deformation Lagrangian formulation and discretized via finite elements. First, one-dimensional test cases are given to show that the numerical method is free of mesh movement effects. Thereafter, three-dimensional FSI problems of close-in UNDEX are studied. Finally, the computation of UNDEX near a ship compartment is performed. Findings The difference in the flow mechanisms between rigid targets and deforming targets is quantified and evaluated. Research limitations/implications Cavitation is modeled only approximately and may require further refinement/modeling. Practical implications The results demonstrate that the proposed numerical method is accurate, robust and versatile for practical use. Social implications Better design of naval infrastructure [such as bridges, ports, etc.]. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study has been conducted for the first time.

A family of second-order dissipative finite volume schemes for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

We propose and study a family of formally second-order accurate schemes to approximate weak solutions of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Theses schemes are based on a dissipative property satisfied by the second-order discretization in space. They are proven to satisfy a global entropy inequality for a generic strictly convex entropy. These schemes do not involve limitation techniques. Numerical results are provided to illustrate their accuracy and stability.

A Time-Continuous Embedding Method for Scalar Hyperbolic Conservation Laws on Manifolds

A time-continuous (tc-)embedding method is first proposed for solving nonlinear scalar hyperbolic conservation laws with discontinuous solutions (shocks and rarefaction waves) on codimension 1, connected, smooth, and closed manifolds (surface PDEs or SPDEs in {mathbb {R}}^2 and {mathbb {R}}^3). The new embedding method improves upon the classical closest point (cp-)embedding method, which requires re-establishments of the constant-along-normal (CAN-)property of the extension function at every time step, in terms of accuracy and efficiency, by incorporating the CAN-property analytically and explicitly in the embedding equation. The tc-embedding SPDEs are solved by the second-order nonlinear central finite volume scheme with a nonlinear minmod slope limiter in space, and the third-order total variation diminished Runge-Kutta scheme in time. An adaptive nonlinear essentially non-oscillatory polynomial interpolation is used to obtain the solution values at the ghost cells. Numerical results in solving the linear wave equation and the Burgers’ equation show that the proposed tc-embedding method has better accuracy, improved resolution, and reduced CPU times than the classical cp-embedding method. The Burgers’ equation, the traffic flow problem, and the Buckley-Leverett equation are solved to demonstrate the robust performance of the tc-embedding method in resolving fine-scale structures efficiently even in the presence of a shock and the essentially non-oscillatory capturing of shocks and rarefaction waves on simple and complex shaped one-dimensional manifolds. Burgers’ equation is also solved on the two-dimensional torus-shaped and spherical-shaped manifolds.

Impact dynamics of mud flows against rigid walls

• Mud-flows may cause serious damages to people and structures. • The evaluation of the impact of mud flows against obstacles is crucial for damage assessment. • The impact force depends on both the fluid rheology and the geometry. • In some conditions the peak force does not exceed the time-asymptotic hydrostatic value. • Useful indications on how to evaluate the peak force have been provided. Mud flows represent one of the major causes of natural hazards in mountain regions. Similarly to debris flows, they consist of a hyper-concentrated mixture of water and sediments flowing down a slope and may cause serious damages to people and structures. The present paper investigates the force produced by a dam-break wave of mud impacting against a rigid wall. A power-law shear-thinning model is used to describe the rheology of the hyper-concentrated mixture. A one-dimensional shallow water model is adopted and a second-order Finite Volume scheme is employed to numerically solve the governing equations. The results indicate that depending on the fluid rheological parameters and on the bottom slope, there exists a minimum value of the wall distance above which the peak force does not exceed the asymptotic value of the hydrostatic final condition. For two different values of the channel slope, the dimensionless value of this lower bound is individuated for several values of the power-law exponent and of a dimensionless Basal Drag coefficient. An estimation of the maximum peak force for wall distance smaller than the minimum value is also provided.

A moving embedded boundary approach for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations in a block-structured adaptive refinement framework

A computational technique has been developed to perform compressible flow simulations involving moving boundaries using an embedded boundary approach within the block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (SAMR) framework of AMReX [1,91,92]. We leverage the SAMR capability to obtain quantitatively accurate results whilst using robust, second-order finite volume schemes. A conservative, unsplit, cut-cell approach is utilized and a ghost-cell approach is developed for computing the flux on the moving, embedded boundary faces. A third-order least-squares formulation has been developed to compute the wall velocity gradients, and was found to significantly improve the performance of the solver in terms of the quantitative comparison of surface quantities such as the skin friction coefficient. Various test cases are performed to validate the method, and compared with analytical, experimental, and other numerical results in literature. Inviscid and viscous test cases are performed that span a wide regime of flow speeds – acoustic (harmonically pulsating sphere), smooth flows (expansion fan created by a receding piston) and flows with shocks (shock-cylinder interaction, shock-wedge interaction, pitching NACA 0012 airfoil and shock-cone interaction). A closed system with moving boundaries – an oscillating piston in a cylinder, showed that the percentage error in mass within the system decreases with refinement, demonstrating that the numerical scheme is conservative with grid refinement, but is not discretely conservative. Viscous test cases involve that of a horizontally moving cylinder at Re=40, an inline oscillating cylinder at Re=100, and a transversely oscillating cylinder at Re=185. The judicious use of adaptive mesh refinement with appropriate refinement criteria to capture the regions of interest leads to well-resolved flow features, and good quantitative comparison is observed with the results available in literature.

Parallel finite volume simulation of the spherical shell dynamo with pseudo-vacuum magnetic boundary conditions

In this paper, we study the parallel simulation of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) dynamo in a rapidly rotating spherical shell with pseudo-vacuum magnetic boundary conditions. A second-order finite volume scheme based on a collocated quasi-uniform cubed-sphere grid is applied to the spatial discretization of the MHD dynamo equations. To ensure the solenoidal condition of the magnetic field, we adopt a widely-used approach whereby a pseudo-pressure is introduced into the induction equation. The temporal integration is split by a second-order approximate factorization approach, resulting in two linear algebraic systems both solved by a preconditioned Krylov subspace iterative method. A multi-level restricted additive Schwarz preconditioner based on domain decomposition and multigrid method is then designed to improve the efficiency and scalability. Accurate numerical solutions of two benchmark cases are obtained with our code, comparable to the existing local method results. Several large-scale tests performed on the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer show good strong and weak scalabilities and a noticeable improvement from the multi-level preconditioner with up to 10368 processor cores.

A coupled discontinuous Galerkin-Finite Volume framework for solving gas dynamics over embedded geometries

We present a computational framework for solving the equations of inviscid gas dynamics using structured grids with embedded geometries. The novelty of the proposed approach is the use of high-order discontinuous Galerkin (dG) schemes and a shock-capturing Finite Volume (FV) scheme coupled via an hp adaptive mesh refinement (hp-AMR) strategy that offers high-order accurate resolution of the embedded geometries. The hp-AMR strategy is based on a multi-level block-structured domain partition in which each level is represented by block-structured Cartesian grids and the embedded geometry is represented implicitly by a level set function. The intersection of the embedded geometry with the grids produces the implicitly-defined mesh that consists of a collection of regular rectangular cells plus a relatively small number of irregular curved elements in the vicinity of the embedded boundaries. High-order quadrature rules for implicitly-defined domains enable high-order accuracy resolution of the curved elements with a cell-merging strategy to address the small-cell problem. The hp-AMR algorithm treats the system with a second-order finite volume scheme at the finest level to dynamically track the evolution of solution discontinuities while using dG schemes at coarser levels to provide high-order accuracy in smooth regions of the flow. On the dG levels, the methodology supports different orders of basis functions on different levels. The space-discretized governing equations are then advanced explicitly in time using high-order Runge-Kutta algorithms. Numerical tests are presented for two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems involving an ideal gas. The results are compared with both analytical solutions and experimental observations and demonstrate that the framework provides high-order accuracy for smooth flows and accurately captures solution discontinuities.

Monotonicity correction for second order element finite volume methods of anisotropic diffusion problems

We apply the monotonicity correction to second-order element finite volume methods, which include quadratic element on triangular meshes and biquadratic element on quadrilateral meshes, for anisotropic diffusion problems, and obtain a second-order monotone finite volume scheme. The main ideas of monotonicity correction are as follows: When we formulate the second-order element finite volume schemes, we need to calculate line integrals on the boundary line segment of the dual element, and regard these line integrals as numerical fluxes, which are in the form of multi-point flux. Among these numerical fluxes, we can separate a two-point flux structure on both sides of the line segment. Therefore, we can apply nonlinear monotone correction to these numerical fluxes, then we obtain a corrected second order element finite volume schemes whose stiffness matrix is monotone matrix, so the first high order unconditional positivity-preserving finite volume schemes are obtained by us. Moreover, we analyze the truncation error of the corrected numerical fluxes. Furthermore, for the time dependent problem, we also apply monotone correction to time derivative term. Numerical experiments show that the corrected second order element finite volume schemes have monotonicity, and maintain the convergence order of the original schemes, which are second order in H1 norm and third order in L2 norm.

A strong coupling prediction-correction immersed boundary method

In the traditional immersed boundary methods for solving compressible fluid-structure interaction problems, conservation is one of the problems that must be considered. When the coupling boundary moves on the fixed grid, the structure coverage will change, resulting in many dead elements and emerging elements on the fluid grid. In the ghost-cell immersed boundary method, the reconstructed grid can not maintain the strict mass conservation when the dead elements and emerging elements appear. In order to overcome the shortcomings of traditional methods, a strong coupling prediction-correction immersed boundary method for compressible fluid-structure interaction problems was proposed. Firstly, the matrix representation of a general fluid-structure coupling system was described, and a strong coupling Gauss-Seidel iterative scheme of fluid-structure coupling system was derived. Furthermore, a prediction-correction scheme was derived, and a prediction-correction immersed boundary method was proposed. The fluid-structure coupling boundary was regarded as a free surface, and the space originally occupied by the solid was initialized as zero mass elements, allowing the fluid to pass through the coupling boundary freely. For the calculation of fluid, the second-order MUSCL finite volume scheme with the minmod limiter and the AUSM+-up flux based on Zha-Bilgen splitting were used to advance the time step with the third-order Runge-Kutta scheme. In the correction step, the transport process was realized by a set of mass conservation transport rules. The transport algorithm could be summarized as marking the fluid inside the boundary, dividing and moving the fluid in a uniform way according to the marking order, generating a flow pointing to the outside of the boundary, and finally applying a velocity correction near the boundary to ensure the no-slip condition. The marking and transport algorithm avoided the tedious geometric treatment of the cut-cells, and ensured the easy implementation of the algorithm. For the calculation of solids, the first-order difference scheme and the implicit dynamic finite element scheme were used to solve the rigid body and linear elastic body respectively, and the Gauss quadrature was used to obtain the coupling force on the solid surface. The one-dimensional and two-dimensional problems were calculated by the prediction-correction immersed boundary method. In the one-dimensional piston problem, the accuracy, conservation and convergence of the method were investigated by comparing the results with those in the literature. In the two-dimensional shock wave impact problem, the experimental optical schlieren images were compared with those obtained by the numerical simulation, and the deflection history of the plate structure was investigated. The study shows that this method can accurately maintain the mass conservation of the flow field and has the advantage of easy implementation, which is different from the traditional ghost-cell method and the cut-cell method. This method has the first-order convergence accuracy, and can accurately predict the flow field after shock diffraction and the deflection of plate under shock waves. It provides a new idea for the development of fluid-structure coupling algorithms.

Second-order accurate BGK schemes for the special relativistic hydrodynamics with the Synge equation of state

This paper extends the second-order accurate BGK finite volume schemes for the ultra-relativistic flow simulations [5] to the 1D and 2D special relativistic hydrodynamics with the Synge equation of state. It is shown that such 2D schemes are very time-consuming due to the moment integrals (triple integrals) so that they are no longer practical. In view of this, the simplified BGK (sBGK) schemes are presented by removing some terms in the approximate nonequilibrium distribution at the cell interface for the BGK scheme without loss of accuracy. They are practical because the moment integrals of the approximate distribution can be reduced to the single integrals by some coordinate transformations. The relations between the left and right states of the shock wave, rarefaction wave, and contact discontinuity are also discussed, so that the exact solution of the 1D Riemann problem could be derived and used for the numerical comparisons. Several numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate that the proposed gas-kinetic schemes are accurate and stable. A comparison of the sBGK schemes with the BGK scheme in one dimension shows that the former performs almost the same as the latter in terms of the accuracy and resolution, but is much more efficient.

A finite-volume scheme for gradient-flow equations with non-homogeneous diffusion

We develop a first- and second-order finite-volume scheme to solve gradient flow equations with non-homogeneous properties, obtained in the framework of dynamical-density functional theory. The scheme takes advantage of an upwind approach for the space discretization to ensure positivity of the density under a CFL condition and decay of the discrete free energy. Our computational approach is used to study several one- and two-dimensional systems, with a general free-energy functional accounting for external fields and inter-particle potentials, and placed in non-homogeneous thermal baths characterized by anisotropic, space-dependent and time-dependent properties.

A novel fluid-structure interaction algorithm for compressible flows and deformable structures

In this study, we propose a new immersed boundary method for compressible fluid-structure interaction simulations. We take a partitioned coupling strategy that comprises three parts: fluid solver, structure solver, and fluid-structure boundary treatment. The fluid solver is implemented by a second-order finite volume scheme, and the structure is solved by an implicit finite element solver. For the boundary treatment, this method employs a multilevel marking algorithm to determine the direction from the inside of the structure to the outside. Following the direction, fluids that permeate the structure are transported out of the structure boundaries to satisfy the boundary conditions. This method strictly maintains mass conservation and uses no cross-boundary fitting or interpolation; thus, it appears to be convenient when treating complex-shaped or deformable structures and diminishes the singularity problem. The 1D and 2D numerical experiments show that our method is capable of obtaining approximately first-order convergent results, agreeing well with the published data. The method's limitations are discussed in the conclusion.

A 3-D pseudo-arc-length moving-mesh method for numerical simulation of detonation wave propagation

In this paper, we propose a robust pseudo-arc-length moving-mesh method (PALM) which adopts the strategy of overall movement and block calculation for numerical simulation of detonation wave propagation in three dimensions. The pseudo-arc-length moving-mesh method involves governing equations’ evolution, mesh redistribution, and positivity-preserving analysis. Second-order finite-volume schemes and multistage total-variation-diminishing Runge–Kutta methods are used for governing equations’ evolution, while mesh redistribution is an iterative procedure that includes mesh point redistribution and cell average conservative interpolation. In addition, positivity-preserving analysis is discussed to avoid the density or pressure becoming negative in the process of numerical calculation. Finally, several numerical examples show that our method is feasible and effective. The advantage of the PALM scheme is that we can get similar results as the Monotonic Upstream-centered Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) which requires more cells and computational run time. It is demonstrated that the computational grids using the PALM scheme can capture the detonation front.

An efficient numerical scheme for the thermo-hydraulic simulations of thermal grids

Renewable and smart energy systems require district heating and cooling grids able to operate with variable flow rates, to manage different supply temperatures, and to support distributed energy production involving bidirectional flows. Due to these requirements, accurate and effective thermo-hydraulic models are essential to correctly simulate the flow rates, the head drops and the temperature transients for supporting the design, management and optimisation of thermal distribution networks. In this article, an efficient numerical scheme for the simulation of thermal grids based on a thermo-hydraulic model with a quasi-dynamic approach is proposed. Global gradient algorithm of Todini together with a uniformly distributed representation of demand along the pipes is used for steady-state hydraulic simulations of the networks modelled according to the graph theory. The temperature distribution is computed by solving a first order hyperbolic PDE which accounts for heat advection in the flux term and heat dissipation in an algebraic source term. A very efficient second-order Eulerian-Lagrangian finite volume scheme is employed on a staggered mesh, which evolves in time the temperature distribution starting from the velocity distribution given by the hydraulic solver. The usage of a Eulerian-Lagrangian algorithm for the discretisation of the convective terms, allows the proposed model to be unconditionally stable for every time step size. As such, the main advantages of the proposed model are the flexibility due to the admissibility of any spatial-temporal discretisation, the second order accuracy provided by both the demand schematisation and the thermo-hydraulic solver, and the computational efficiency guaranteed by the decoupled modelling approach. The resulting algorithm is extensively validated on four tests consisting of thermal grids of various complexity that have been carefully designed in order to capture different features and behaviours of the model. The accuracy of the results in terms of velocity, pressure and temperature is tested by separately checking the symmetry, the advection term, the heat loss component and, finally, by simulating a complex grid configuration with multiple heat sources. The article aims to present a proof-of-concept concerning a breakthrough numerical scheme for the efficient thermo-hydraulic simulation of pipeline networks, which proves to be suitably implemented in the modelling of district heating and cooling networks.