PyFR: An Open Source Framework for Solving Advection-Diffusion Type Problems on Streaming Architectures using the Flux Reconstruction Approach

High-order numerical methods for unstructured grids combine the superior accuracy of high-order spectral or finite difference methods with the geometric flexibility of low-order finite volume or finite element schemes. The Flux Reconstruction (FR) approach unifies various high-order schemes for unstructured grids within a single framework. Additionally, the FR approach exhibits a significant degree of element locality, and is thus able to run efficiently on modern streaming architectures, such as Graphical Processing Units (GPUs). The aforementioned properties of FR mean it offers a promising route to performing affordable, and hence industrially relevant, scale-resolving simulations of hitherto intractable unsteady flows within the vicinity of real-world engineering geometries. In this paper we present PyFR, an open-source Python based framework for solving advection-diffusion type problems on streaming architectures using the FR approach. The framework is designed to solve a range of governing systems on mixed unstructured grids containing various element types. It is also designed to target a range of hardware platforms via use of an in-built domain specific language based on the Mako templating engine. The current release of PyFR is able to solve the compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations on grids of quadrilateral and triangular elements in two dimensions, and hexahedral elements in three dimensions, targeting clusters of CPUs, and NVIDIA GPUs. Results are presented for various benchmark flow problems, single-node performance is discussed, and scalability of the code is demonstrated on up to 104 NVIDIA M2090 GPUs. The software is freely available under a 3-Clause New Style BSD license (see www.pyfr.org)

On the Properties of Energy Stable Flux Reconstruction Schemes for Implicit Large Eddy Simulation

We begin by investigating the stability, order of accuracy, and dispersion and dissipation characteristics of the extended range of energy stable flux reconstruction (E-ESFR) schemes in the context of implicit large eddy simulation (ILES). We proceed to demonstrate that subsets of the E-ESFR schemes are more stable than collocation nodal discontinuous Galerkin methods recovered with the flux reconstruction approach (FRDG) for marginally-resolved ILES simulations of the Taylor-Green vortex. These schemes are shown to have reduced dissipation and dispersion errors relative to FRDG schemes of the same polynomial degree and, simultaneously, have increased CourantFriedrichs-Lewy (CFL) limits. Finally, we simulate turbulent flow over an SD7003 aerofoil using two of the most stable E-ESFR schemes identified by the aforementioned Taylor-Green vortex experiments. Results demonstrate that subsets of E-ESFR schemes appear more stable than the commonly used FRDG method, have increased CFL limits, and are suitable for ILES of complex turbulent flows on unstructured grids

Aspects of Unstructured Grids and Finite-Volume Solvers for the Euler and Navier-Stokes Equations

One of the major achievements in engineering science has been the development of computer algorithms for solving nonlinear differential equations such as the Navier-Stokes equations. In the past, limited computer resources have motivated the development of efficient numerical schemes in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) utilizing structured meshes. The use of structured meshes greatly simplifies the implementation of CFD algorithms on conventional computers. Unstructured grids on the other hand offer an alternative to modeling complex geometries. Unstructured meshes have irregular connectivity and usually contain combinations of triangles, quadrilaterals, tetrahedra, and hexahedra. The generation and use of unstructured grids poses new challenges in CFD. The purpose of this note is to present recent developments in the unstructured grid generation and flow solution technology

High-Order Methods for Computational Fluid Dynamics: A Brief Review of Compact Differential Formulations on Unstructured Grids

Popular high-order schemes with compact stencils for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) include Discontinuous Galerkin (DG), Spectral Difference (SD), and Spectral Volume (SV) methods. The recently proposed Flux Reconstruction (FR) approach or Correction Procedure using Reconstruction (CPR) is based on a differential formulation and provides a unifying framework for these high-order schemes. Here we present a brief review of recent developments for the FR/CPR schemes as well as some pacing items

Implicit High-Order Flux Reconstruction Solver for High-Speed Compressible Flows

The present paper addresses the development and implementation of the first high-order Flux Reconstruction (FR) solver for high-speed flows within the open-source COOLFluiD (Computational Object-Oriented Libraries for Fluid Dynamics) platform. The resulting solver is fully implicit and able to simulate compressible flow problems governed by either the Euler or the Navier-Stokes equations in two and three dimensions. Furthermore, it can run in parallel on multiple CPU-cores and is designed to handle unstructured grids consisting of both straight and curved edged quadrilateral or hexahedral elements. While most of the implementation relies on state-of-the-art FR algorithms, an improved and more case-independent shock capturing scheme has been developed in order to tackle the first viscous hypersonic simulations using the FR method. Extensive verification of the FR solver has been performed through the use of reproducible benchmark test cases with flow speeds ranging from subsonic to hypersonic, up to Mach 17.6. The obtained results have been favorably compared to those available in literature. Furthermore, so-called super-accuracy is retrieved for certain cases when solving the Euler equations. The strengths of the FR solver in terms of computational accuracy per degree of freedom are also illustrated. Finally, the influence of the characterizing parameters of the FR method as well as the the influence of the novel shock capturing scheme on the accuracy of the developed solver is discussed