High Order Cell-Centered Lagrangian-Type Finite Volume Schemes with Time-Accurate Local Time Stepping on Unstructured Triangular Meshes

We present a novel cell-centered direct Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite volume scheme on unstructured triangular meshes that is high order accurate in space and time and that also allows for time-accurate local time stepping (LTS). The new scheme uses the following basic ingredients: a high order WENO reconstruction in space on unstructured meshes, an element-local high-order accurate space-time Galerkin predictor that performs the time evolution of the reconstructed polynomials within each element, the computation of numerical ALE fluxes at the moving element interfaces through approximate Riemann solvers, and a one-step finite volume scheme for the time update which is directly based on the integral form of the conservation equations in space-time. The inclusion of the LTS algorithm requires a number of crucial extensions, such as a proper scheduling criterion for the time update of each element and for each node; a virtual projection of the elements contained in the reconstruction stencils of the element that has to perform the WENO reconstruction; and the proper computation of the fluxes through the space-time boundary surfaces that will inevitably contain hanging nodes in time due to the LTS algorithm. We have validated our new unstructured Lagrangian LTS approach over a wide sample of test cases solving the Euler equations of compressible gasdynamics in two space dimensions, including shock tube problems, cylindrical explosion problems, as well as specific tests typically adopted in Lagrangian calculations, such as the Kidder and the Saltzman problem. When compared to the traditional global time stepping (GTS) method, the newly proposed LTS algorithm allows to reduce the number of element updates in a given simulation by a factor that may depend on the complexity of the dynamics, but which can be as large as 4.7.Comment: 31 pages, 13 figure

Spatially partitioned embedded Runge-Kutta Methods

We study spatially partitioned embedded Runge–Kutta (SPERK) schemes for partial differential equations (PDEs), in which each of the component schemes is applied over a different part of the spatial domain. Such methods may be convenient for problems in which the smoothness of the solution or the magnitudes of the PDE coefficients vary strongly in space. We focus on embedded partitioned methods as they offer greater efficiency and avoid the order reduction that may occur in non-embedded schemes. We demonstrate that the lack of conservation in partitioned schemes can lead to non-physical effects and propose conservative additive schemes based on partitioning the fluxes rather than the ordinary differential equations. A variety of SPERK schemes are presented, including an embedded pair suitable for the time evolution of fifth-order weighted non-oscillatory (WENO) spatial discretizations. Numerical experiments are provided to support the theory

Explicit local time-stepping methods for time-dependent wave propagation

Semi-discrete Galerkin formulations of transient wave equations, either with conforming or discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretizations, typically lead to large systems of ordinary differential equations. When explicit time integration is used, the time-step is constrained by the smallest elements in the mesh for numerical stability, possibly a high price to pay. To overcome that overly restrictive stability constraint on the time-step, yet without resorting to implicit methods, explicit local time-stepping schemes (LTS) are presented here for transient wave equations either with or without damping. In the undamped case, leap-frog based LTS methods lead to high-order explicit LTS schemes, which conserve the energy. In the damped case, when energy is no longer conserved, Adams-Bashforth based LTS methods also lead to explicit LTS schemes of arbitrarily high accuracy. When combined with a finite element discretization in space with an essentially diagonal mass matrix, the resulting time-marching schemes are fully explicit and thus inherently parallel. Numerical experiments with continuous and discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretizations validate the theory and illustrate the usefulness of these local time-stepping methods.Comment: overview paper, typos added, references updated. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1109.448

A Parallel Mesh-Adaptive Framework for Hyperbolic Conservation Laws

We report on the development of a computational framework for the parallel, mesh-adaptive solution of systems of hyperbolic conservation laws like the time-dependent Euler equations in compressible gas dynamics or Magneto-Hydrodynamics (MHD) and similar models in plasma physics. Local mesh refinement is realized by the recursive bisection of grid blocks along each spatial dimension, implemented numerical schemes include standard finite-differences as well as shock-capturing central schemes, both in connection with Runge-Kutta type integrators. Parallel execution is achieved through a configurable hybrid of POSIX-multi-threading and MPI-distribution with dynamic load balancing. One- two- and three-dimensional test computations for the Euler equations have been carried out and show good parallel scaling behavior. The Racoon framework is currently used to study the formation of singularities in plasmas and fluids.Comment: late submissio