Monolithic multiphysics simulation of hypersonic aerothermoelasticity using a hybridized discontinuous Galerkin method

This work presents implementation of a hybridized discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method for robust simulation of the hypersonic aerothermoelastic multiphysics system. Simulation of hypersonic vehicles requires accurate resolution of complex multiphysics interactions including the effects of high-speed turbulent flow, extreme heating, and vehicle deformation due to considerable pressure loads and thermal stresses. However, the state-of-the-art procedures for hypersonic aerothermoelasticity are comprised of low-fidelity approaches and partitioned coupling schemes. These approaches preclude robust design and analysis of hypersonic vehicles for a number of reasons. First, low-fidelity approaches limit their application to simple geometries and lack the ability to capture small scale flow features (e.g. turbulence, shocks, and boundary layers) which greatly degrades modeling robustness and solution accuracy. Second, partitioned coupling approaches can introduce considerable temporal and spatial inaccuracies which are not trivially remedied. In light of these barriers, we propose development of a monolithically-coupled hybridized DG approach to enable robust design and analysis of hypersonic vehicles with arbitrary geometries. Monolithic coupling methods implement a coupled multiphysics system as a single, or monolithic, equation system to be resolved by a single simulation approach. Further, monolithic approaches are free from the physical inaccuracies and instabilities imposed by partitioned approaches and enable time-accurate evolution of the coupled physics system. In this work, a DG method is considered due to its ability to accurately resolve second-order partial differential equations (PDEs) of all classes. We note that the hypersonic aerothermoelastic system is composed of PDEs of all three classes. Hybridized DG methods are specifically considered due to their exceptional computational efficiency compared to traditional DG methods. It is expected that our monolithic hybridized DG implementation of the hypersonic aerothermoelastic system will 1) provide the physical accuracy necessary to capture complex physical features, 2) be free from any spatial and temporal inaccuracies or instabilities inherent to partitioned coupling procedures, 3) represent a transition to high-fidelity simulation methods for hypersonic aerothermoelasticity, and 4) enable efficient analysis of hypersonic aerothermoelastic effects on arbitrary geometries

Hybrid coupling of CG and HDG discretizations based on Nitsche’s method

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Computational mechanics. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00466-019-01770-8A strategy to couple continuous Galerkin (CG) and hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) discretizations based only on the HDG hybrid variable is presented for linear thermal and elastic problems. The hybrid CG-HDG coupling exploits the definition of the numerical flux and the trace of the solution on the mesh faces to impose the transmission conditions between the CG and HDG subdomains. The con- tinuity of the solution is imposed in the CG problem via Nitsche’s method, whereas the equilibrium of the flux at the interface is naturally enforced as a Neumann con- dition in the HDG global problem. The proposed strategy does not affect the core structure of CG and HDG discretizations. In fact, the resulting formulation leads to a minimally-intrusive coupling, suitable to be integrated in existing CG and HDG libraries. Numerical experiments in two and three dimensions show optimal global convergence of the stress and superconvergence of the displacement field, locking-free approximation, as well as the potential to treat structural problems of engineering interest featuring multiple materials with compressible and nearly incompressible behaviors.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft