Computational Eulerian Hydrodynamics and Galilean Invariance

Eulerian hydrodynamical simulations are a powerful and popular tool for modeling fluids in astrophysical systems. In this work, we critically examine recent claims that these methods violate Galilean invariance of the Euler equations. We demonstrate that Eulerian hydrodynamics methods do converge to a Galilean-invariant solution, provided a well-defined convergent solution exists. Specifically, we show that numerical diffusion, resulting from diffusion-like terms in the discretized hydrodynamical equations solved by Eulerian methods, accounts for the effects previously identified as evidence for the Galilean non-invariance of these methods. These velocity-dependent diffusive terms lead to different results for different bulk velocities when the spatial resolution of the simulation is kept fixed, but their effect becomes negligible as the resolution of the simulation is increased to obtain a converged solution. In particular, we find that Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities develop properly in realistic Eulerian calculations regardless of the bulk velocity provided the problem is simulated with sufficient resolution (a factor of 2-4 increase compared to the case without bulk flows for realistic velocities). Our results reiterate that high-resolution Eulerian methods can perform well and obtain a convergent solution, even in the presence of highly supersonic bulk flows.Comment: Version accepted by MNRAS Oct 2, 2009. Figures degraded. For high-resolution color figures and movies of the numerical simulations, please visit http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~brant/Site/Computational_Eulerian_Hydrodynamics_and_Galilean_Invariance.htm

Challenges and progress on the modelling of entropy generation in porous media: a review

Depending upon the ultimate design, the use of porous media in thermal and chemical systems can provide significant operational advantages, including helping to maintain a uniform temperature distribution, increasing the heat transfer rate, controlling reaction rates, and improving heat flux absorption. For this reason, numerous experimental and numerical investigations have been performed on thermal and chemical systems that utilize various types of porous materials. Recently, previous thermal analyses of porous materials embedded in channels or cavities have been re-evaluated using a local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) modelling technique. Consequently, the second law analyses of these systems using the LTNE method have been a point of focus in a number of more recent investigations. This has resulted in a series of investigations in various porous systems, and comparisons of the results obtained from traditional local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and the more recent LTNE modelling approach. Moreover, the rapid development and deployment of micro-manufacturing techniques have resulted in an increase in manufacturing flexibility that has made the use of these materials much easier for many micro-thermal and chemical system applications, including emerging energy-related fields such as micro-reactors, micro-combustors, solar thermal collectors and many others. The result is a renewed interest in the thermal performance and the exergetic analysis of these porous thermochemical systems. This current investigation reviews the recent developments of the second law investigations and analyses in thermal and chemical problems in porous media. The effects of various parameters on the entropy generation in these systems are discussed, with particular attention given to the influence of local thermodynamic equilibrium and non-equilibrium upon the second law performance of these systems. This discussion is then followed by a review of the mathematical methods that have been used for simulations. Finally, conclusions and recommendations regarding the unexplored systems and the areas in the greatest need of further investigations are summarized

A Rosenau-type approach to the approximation of the linear Fokker--Planck equation

{The numerical approximation of the solution of the Fokker--Planck equation is a challenging problem that has been extensively investigated starting from the pioneering paper of Chang and Cooper in 1970. We revisit this problem at the light of the approximation of the solution to the heat equation proposed by Rosenau in 1992. Further, by means of the same idea, we address the problem of a consistent approximation to higher-order linear diffusion equations