Space-time Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Research Articles

Entropy bounds for the space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element moment method applied to the BGK–Boltzmann equation

This paper presents a numerical analysis for the time-implicit numerical approximation of the Boltzmann equation based on a moment system approximation in velocity dependence and a discontinuous Galerkin finite-element (DGFE) approximation in time and position dependence. The implicit nature of the DGFE moment method in position and time dependence provides a robust numerical algorithm for the approximation of solutions of the Boltzmann equation. The closure relation for the moment systems derives from minimization of a suitable φ-divergence. We present sufficient conditions such that this divergence-based closure yields a hierarchy of tractable symmetric hyperbolic moment systems that retain the fundamental structural properties of the Boltzmann equation. The resulting combined space-time DGFE moment method corresponds to a Galerkin approximation of the Boltzmann equation in renormalized form. We propose a renormalization map that facilitates the approximation of multidimensional problems in an implicit manner. Moreover, upper and lower entropy bounds are derived for the proposed DGFE moment scheme. Numerical results for benchmark problems governed by the BGK-Boltzmann equation are presented to illustrate the approximation properties of the new DGFE moment method, and it is shown that the proposed velocity-space-time DGFE moment method is entropy bounded.

Arbitrary high order accurate space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element schemes on staggered unstructured meshes for linear elasticity

In this paper we propose a new high order accurate space–time discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element scheme for the solution of the linear elastic wave equations in first order velocity-stress formulation in two and three-space dimensions on staggered unstructured triangular and tetrahedral meshes. The method reaches arbitrary high order of accuracy in both space and time via the use of space–time basis and test functions. Within the staggered mesh formulation, we define the discrete velocity field in the control volumes of a primary mesh, while the discrete stress tensor is defined on a face-based staggered dual mesh. The space–time DG formulation leads to an implicit scheme that requires the solution of a linear system for the unknown degrees of freedom at the new time level. The number of unknowns is reduced at the aid of the Schur complement, so that in the end only a linear system for the degrees of freedom of the velocity field needs to be solved, rather than a system that involves both stress and velocity. Thanks to the use of a spatially staggered mesh, the stencil of the final velocity system involves only the element and its direct neighbors and the linear system can be efficiently solved via matrix-free iterative methods. Despite the necessity to solve a linear system, the numerical scheme is still computationally efficient. The chosen discretization and the linear nature of the governing PDE system lead to an unconditionally stable scheme, which allows large time steps even for low quality meshes that contain so-called sliver elements. The fully discrete staggered space–time DG method is proven to be energy stable for any order of accuracy, for any mesh and for any time step size. For the particular case of a simple Crank–Nicolson time discretization and homogeneous material, the final velocity system can be proven to be symmetric and positive definite and in this case the scheme is also exactly energy preserving. The new scheme is applied to several test problems in two and three space dimensions, providing also a comparison with high order explicit ADER-DG schemes.

Voronoi tessellation based statistical volume element characterization for use in fracture modeling

Accurate characterization of random heterogeneity in a material microstructure is essential to the accurate characterization of complex fracture patterns that result from random crack nucleation and propagation. It is also important to characterize microstructural behavior at intermediate scales, between the length scale of material heterogeneity and the scale of a Representative Volume Element (RVE). The availability of material property data at multiple scales will ultimately allow adjustment of computational cost and level of accuracy with respect to resolution of complex fracture patterns. Statistical Volume Elements (SVE) may be generated at the mesoscale by partitioning an RVE. SVE provide a probabilistic characterization of material heterogeneity, while also presenting a continuum representation of apparent properties. Appropriate definition of an SVE requires modeling choices, such as partitioning methods and size. An essential modeling assumption is the choice of loading condition used to approximate SVE apparent behavior, since the constitutive properties of an SVE are not necessarily invariant with respect to the boundary condition applied. This work develops a Voronoi tessellation based partitioning scheme applied at various length scales, for heterogeneous materials with various contrast ratios. Results show the variability of failure strength for a given SVE as a function of loading direction. Results of the mesoscale material property analysis are implemented in an asynchronous spacetime discontinuous Galerkin (aSDG) finite element based fracture model.

Adjoint analysis of Buckley-Leverett and two-phase flow equations

This paper analyzes the adjoint equations and boundary conditions for porous media flow models, specifically the Buckley-Leverett equation, and the compressible two-phase flow equations in mass conservation form. An adjoint analysis of a general scalar hyperbolic conservation law whose primal solutions include a shock jump is initially presented, and the results are later specialized to the Buckley-Leverett equation. The non-convexity of the Buckley-Leverett flux function results in adjoint characteristics that are parallel to the shock front upstream of the shock and emerge from the shock front downstream of the shock. Thus, in contrast to the behavior of Burgers’ equation where the adjoint is continuous at a shock, the Buckley-Leverett adjoint, in general, contains a discontinuous jump across the shock. Discrete adjoint solutions from space-time discontinuous Galerkin finite element approximations of the Buckley-Leverett equation are shown to be consistent with the derived closed-form analytical solutions. Furthermore, a general result relating the adjoint equations for different (though equivalent) primal equations is used to relate the two-phase flow adjoints to the Buckley-Leverett adjoint. Adjoint solutions from space-time discontinuous Galerkin finite element approximations of the two-phase flow equations are observed to obey this relationship.

An asynchronous spacetime discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for time domain electromagnetics

We present an asynchronous spacetime discontinuous Galerkin (aSDG) method for time domain electromagnetics in which space and time are directly discretized. By using differential forms we express Maxwell's equations and consequently their discontinuous Galerkin discretization for arbitrary domains in spacetime. The elements are discretized with electric and magnetic basis functions that are discontinuous across all inter-element boundaries and can have arbitrary high and per element spacetime orders. When restricted to unstructured grids that satisfy a specific causality constraint, the method has a local and asynchronous solution procedure with linear solution complexity in terms of the number of elements. We numerically investigate the convergence properties of the method for 1D to 3D uniform grids for energy dissipation, an error relative to the exact solution, and von Neumann dissipation and dispersion errors. Two dimensional simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in resolving sharp wave fronts.

A space-time adaptive method for reservoir flows: formulation and one-dimensional application

This paper presents a space-time adaptive framework for solving porous media flow problems, with specific application to reservoir simulation. A fully unstructured mesh discretization of space and time is used instead of a conventional time-marching approach. A space-time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is employed to achieve a high-order discretization on the anisotropic, unstructured meshes. Anisotropic mesh adaptation is performed to reduce the error of a specified output of interest, by using a posteriori error estimates from the dual-weighted residual method to drive a metric-based mesh optimization algorithm. The space-time adaptive method is tested on a one-dimensional two-phase flow problem, and is found to be more efficient in terms of computational cost (degrees-of-freedom and total runtime) required to achieve a specified output error level, when compared to a conventional first-order time-marching finite volume method and the space-time discontinuous Galerkin method on structured meshes.

Efficient simulation of one-dimensional two-phase flow with a high-order h-adaptive space-time Discontinuous Galerkin method

One-dimensional models for multiphase flow in pipelines are commonly discretised using first-order Finite Volume (FV) schemes, often combined with implicit time-integration methods. While robust, these methods introduce much numerical diffusion depending on the number of grid points. In this paper we propose a high-order, space-time Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) Finite Element method with h-adaptivity to improve the efficiency of one-dimensional multiphase flow simulations. For smooth initial boundary value problems we show that the DG method converges with the theoretical rate and that the growth rate and phase shift of small, harmonic perturbations exhibit superconvergence. We employ two techniques to accurately and efficiently represent discontinuities. Firstly artificial diffusion in the neighbourhood of a discontinuity suppresses spurious oscillations. Secondly local mesh refinement allows for a sharper representation of the discontinuity while keeping the amount of work required to obtain a solution relatively low. The proposed DG method is shown to be superior to FV.

$hp$-Version Space-Time Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Parabolic Problems on Prismatic Meshes

We present a new $hp$-version space-time discontinuous Galerkin (dG) finite element method for the numerical approximation of parabolic evolution equations on general spatial meshes consisting of polygonal/polyhedral (polytopic) elements, giving rise to prismatic space-time elements. A key feature of the proposed method is the use of space-time elemental polynomial bases of total degree, say $p$, defined in the physical coordinate system, as opposed to standard dG time-stepping methods whereby spatial elemental bases are tensorized with temporal basis functions. This approach leads to a fully discrete $hp$-dG scheme using fewer degrees of freedom for each time step, compared to dG time-stepping schemes employing a tensorized space-time basis, with acceptable deterioration of the approximation properties. A second key feature of the new space-time dG method is the incorporation of very general spatial meshes consisting of possibly polygonal/polyhedral elements with an arbitrary number of faces. A priori er...

A staggered space–time discontinuous Galerkin method for the three-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on unstructured tetrahedral meshes

In this paper we propose a novel arbitrary high order accurate semi-implicit space–time discontinuous Galerkin method for the solution of the three-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on staggered unstructured curved tetrahedral meshes. As is typical for space–time DG schemes, the discrete solution is represented in terms of space–time basis functions. This allows to achieve very high order of accuracy also in time, which is not easy to obtain for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Similarly to staggered finite difference schemes, in our approach the discrete pressure is defined on the primary tetrahedral grid, while the discrete velocity is defined on a face-based staggered dual grid. While staggered meshes are state of the art in classical finite difference schemes for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, their use in high order DG schemes is still quite rare. A very simple and efficient Picard iteration is used in order to derive a space–time pressure correction algorithm that achieves also high order of accuracy in time and that avoids the direct solution of global nonlinear systems. Formal substitution of the discrete momentum equation on the dual grid into the discrete continuity equation on the primary grid yields a very sparse five-point block system for the scalar pressure, which is conveniently solved with a matrix-free GMRES algorithm. From numerical experiments we find that the linear system seems to be reasonably well conditioned, since all simulations shown in this paper could be run without the use of any preconditioner, even up to very high polynomial degrees. For a piecewise constant polynomial approximation in time and if pressure boundary conditions are specified at least in one point, the resulting system is, in addition, symmetric and positive definite. This allows us to use even faster iterative solvers, like the conjugate gradient method.The flexibility and accuracy of high order space–time DG methods on curved unstructured meshes allows to discretize even complex physical domains with very coarse grids in both, space and time. The proposed method is verified for approximation polynomials of degree up to four in space and time by solving a series of typical 3D test problems and by comparing the obtained numerical results with available exact analytical solutions, or with other numerical or experimental reference data.To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first time that a space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is presented for the three-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on staggered unstructured tetrahedral grids.

An unconditionally stable algorithm for generalized thermoelasticity based on operator-splitting and time-discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods

An efficient time-stepping algorithm is proposed based on operator-splitting and the space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for problems in the non-classical theory of thermoelasticity. The non-classical theory incorporates three models: the classical theory based on Fourier’s law of heat conduction resulting in a hyperbolic–parabolic coupled system, a non-classical theory of a fully-hyperbolic extension, and a combination of the two. The general problem is split into two contractive sub-problems, namely the mechanical phase and the thermal phase. Each sub-problem is discretized using the space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method. The sub-problems are stable which then leads to unconditional stability of the global product algorithm. A number of numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the performance and capability of the method.

A spacetime finite element method for coupled acoustic fluid-structure interactions

The spacetime discontinuous Galerkin (SDG) finite element method is applied to problems of acoustic propagation. The spacetime discontinuous Galerkin are a family of discontinuous finite element methods for hyperbolic systems of equations. They utilize an advancing front mesh generation procedure that allows local “patches” of elements to become decoupled from the global solution domain through causality. Causal space-time meshes enable a locally implicit solution procedure with provably linear computational complexity. Mesh adaptivity is shown to effectively resolve propagating waves and minimize dispersion error. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution method, including achieving optimal convergence rates. Time domain simulations of several canonical acoustic problems are presented.

A staggered space–time discontinuous Galerkin method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on two-dimensional triangular meshes

In this paper we propose a novel arbitrary high order accurate semi-implicit space–time discontinuous Galerkin method for the solution of the two dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on staggered unstructured triangular meshes. Isoparametric finite elements are used to take into account curved domain boundaries. The discrete pressure is defined on the primal triangular grid and the discrete velocity field is defined on an edge-based staggered dual grid. While staggered meshes are state of the art in classical finite difference approximations of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, their use in the context of high order DG schemes is novel and still quite rare. Formal substitution of the discrete momentum equation on the dual grid into the discrete continuity equation on the primary grid yields a very sparse four-point block system for the scalar pressure, which is conveniently solved with a matrix-free GMRES algorithm. Note that the same space–time DG scheme on a collocated grid would lead to ten non-zero blocks per element, since substituting the discrete velocity into the discrete continuity equation on a collocated mesh would involve also neighbors of neighbors. From numerical experiments we find that our linear system is well-behaved and that the GMRES method converges quickly even without the use of any preconditioner, which is a unique feature in the context of high order implicit DG schemes. A very simple and efficient Picard iteration is then used in order to derive a space–time pressure correction algorithm that achieves also high order of accuracy in time, which is in general a non-trivial task in the context of high order discretizations for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The flexibility and accuracy of high order space–time DG methods on curved unstructured meshes allows to discretize even complex physical domains with very coarse grids in both, space and time. The use of a staggered grid allows to avoid the use of Riemann solvers in several terms of the discrete equations and significantly reduces the total stencil size of the linear system that needs to be solved for the pressure. The proposed method is verified for approximation polynomials of degree up to p=4 in space and time by solving a series of typical numerical test problems and by comparing the obtained numerical results with available exact analytical solutions or other numerical reference data.To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first time that a space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is presented for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on staggered unstructured grids.

Spacetime Discontinuous Galerkin FEM: Spectral Response

Materials in nature demonstrate certain spectral shapes in terms of their material properties. Since successful experimental demonstrations in 2000, metamaterials have provided a means to engineer materials with desired spectral shapes for their material properties. Computational tools are employed in two different aspects for metamaterial modeling: 1. Mircoscale unit cell analysis to derive and possibly optimize material's spectral response; 2. macroscale to analyze their interaction with conventional material. We compare two different approaches of Time-Domain (TD) and Frequency Domain (FD) methods for metamaterial applications. Finally, we discuss advantages of the TD method of Spacetime Discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (FEM) for spectral analysis of metamaterials.

A direct Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian ADER-WENO finite volume scheme on unstructured tetrahedral meshes for conservative and non-conservative hyperbolic systems in 3D

In this paper we present a new family of high order accurate Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) one-step ADER-WENO finite volume schemes for the solution of nonlinear systems of conservative and non-conservative hyperbolic partial differential equations with stiff source terms on moving tetrahedral meshes in three space dimensions. A WENO reconstruction technique is used to achieve high order of accuracy in space, while an element-local space–time Discontinuous Galerkin finite element predictor on moving curved meshes is used to obtain a high order accurate one-step time discretization. Within the space–time predictor the physical element is mapped onto a reference element using a high order isoparametric approach, where the space–time basis and test functions are given by the Lagrange interpolation polynomials passing through a predefined set of space–time nodes. Since our algorithm is cell-centered, the final mesh motion is computed by using a suitable node solver algorithm. A rezoning step as well as a flattener strategy are used in some of the test problems to avoid mesh tangling or excessive element deformations that may occur when the computation involves strong shocks or shear waves. The ALE algorithm presented in this article belongs to the so-called direct ALE methods because the final Lagrangian finite volume scheme is based directly on a space–time conservation formulation of the governing PDE system, with the rezoned geometry taken already into account during the computation of the fluxes.We apply our new high order unstructured ALE schemes to the 3D Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics, for which a set of classical numerical test problems has been solved and for which convergence rates up to sixth order of accuracy in space and time have been obtained. We furthermore consider the equations of classical ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) as well as the non-conservative seven-equation Baer–Nunziato model of compressible multi-phase flows with stiff relaxation source terms.

Riemann solutions for spacetime discontinuous Galerkin methods

Spacetime discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods (cf. Abedi et al. (2013), Abedi et al. (2010), Miller and Haber (2008)) rely on ‘target fluxes’ on element boundaries that are computed via local one-dimensional Riemann solutions in the direction normal to the element face. In this work, we provide details of converting a space–time flux expressed in differential forms into a standard one-dimensional Riemann problem on the element interface. We then demonstrate a generalized solution procedure for linearized hyperbolic systems based on diagonalization of the governing system of partial differential equations. The generalized procedure is particularly useful for the implementation aspects of coupled multi-physics applications. We show that source terms do not influence the Riemann solution in the spacetime setting. We provide details for implementation of coordinate transformations and Riemann solutions. Exact Riemann solutions for some linearized systems of equations are provided as examples, including an exact, semi-analytic Riemann solution for generalized thermoelasticity with one relaxation time.

HP-Multigrid as Smoother algorithm for higher order discontinuous Galerkin discretizations of advection dominated flows. Part II: Optimization of the Runge–Kutta smoother

Using a detailed multilevel analysis of the complete hp-Multigrid as Smoother algorithm accurate predictions are obtained of the spectral radius and operator norms of the multigrid error transformation operator. This multilevel analysis is used to optimize the coefficients in the semi-implicit Runge–Kutta smoother, such that the spectral radius of the multigrid error transformation operator is minimal under properly chosen constraints. The Runge–Kutta coefficients for a wide range of cell Reynolds numbers and a detailed analysis of the performance of the hp-MGS algorithm are presented. In addition, the computational complexity of the hp-MGS algorithm is investigated. The hp-MGS algorithm is tested on a fourth order accurate space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretization of the advection–diffusion equation for a number of model problems, which include thin boundary layers and highly stretched meshes, and a non-constant advection velocity. For all test cases excellent multigrid convergence is obtained.

Theory of the Space-Time Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Nonstationary Parabolic Problems with Nonlinear Convection and Diffusion

The paper presents the theory of the space-time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for the discretization of a nonstationary convection-diffusion initial-boundary value problem with nonlinear convection and nonlinear diffusion. The discontinuous Galerkin method is applied separately in space and time using, in general, different space grids on different time levels and different polynomial degrees p and q in space and time discretization. In the space discretization the nonsymmetric, symmetric, and incomplete interior and boundary penalty approximations of diffusion terms are used. The paper is concerned with the analysis of error estimates in the “$L^2(L^2)$”- and “DG”-norm formed by the “$L^2(H^1) $”-seminorm and penalty terms. An important ingredient used in the derivation of the error estimate is the concept of the discrete characteristic function and its properties. In the “DG”-norm the error estimates are optimal with respect to the size of the space grid. They are optimal with respect to the time step if the Dirichlet boundary condition behaves in time as a polynomial of degree $\leq q$. In a general case, the derived estimates become suboptimal in time.

A Compact High Order Space-Time Method for Conservation Laws

AbstractThis paper presents a novel high-order space-time method for hyperbolic conservation laws. Two important concepts, the staggered space-time mesh of the space-time conservation element/solution element (CE/SE) method and the local discontinuous basis functions of the space-time discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method, are the two key ingredients of the new scheme. The staggered space-time mesh is constructed using the cell-vertex structure of the underlying spatial mesh. The universal definitions of CEs and SEs are independent of the underlying spatial mesh and thus suitable for arbitrarily unstructured meshes. The solution within each physical time step is updated alternately at the cell level and the vertex level. For this solution updating strategy and the DG ingredient, the new scheme here is termed as the discontinuous Galerkin cell-vertex scheme (DG-CVS). The high order of accuracy is achieved by employing high-order Taylor polynomials as the basis functions inside each SE. The present DG-CVS exhibits many advantageous features such as Riemann-solver-free, high-order accuracy, point-implicitness, compactness, and ease of handling boundary conditions. Several numerical tests including the scalar advection equations and compressible Euler equations will demonstrate the performance of the new method.

Space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for two-fluid flows

A novel numerical method for two-fluid flow computations is presented, which combines the space–time discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretization with the level set method and cut-cell based interface tracking. The space–time discontinuous Galerkin (STDG) finite element method offers high accuracy, an inherent ability to handle discontinuities and a very local stencil, making it relatively easy to combine with local hp-refinement. The front tracking is incorporated via cut-cell mesh refinement to ensure a sharp interface between the fluids. To compute the interface dynamics the level set method (LSM) is used because of its ability to deal with merging and breakup. Also, the LSM is easy to extend to higher dimensions. Small cells arising from the cut-cell refinement are merged to improve the stability and performance. The interface conditions are incorporated in the numerical flux at the interface and the STDG discretization ensures that the scheme is conservative as long as the numerical fluxes are conservative. The numerical method is applied to one and two dimensional two-fluid test problems using the Euler equations.

A space-time discontinuous Galerkin method applied to single-phase flow in porous media

A space-time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method is proposed and applied to a convection-dominant single-phase flow problem in porous media. The numerical scheme is based on a coupled space-time finite element discretization allowing for discontinuous approximations in space and in time. The continuities on the element interfaces are weakly enforced by the flux treatments, so that no extra penalty factor has to be determined. The resulting space-time formulation possesses the advantage of capturing the steep concentration front with sharp gradients efficiently. The stability and reliability of the proposed approach is demonstrated by numerical experiments.