854 research outputs found
High-order nodal discontinuous Galerkin particle-in-cell method on unstructured grids
We present a high-order particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm for the simulation of kinetic plasmas dynamics. The core of the algorithm utilizes an unstructured grid discontinuous Galerkin Maxwell field solver combining high-order accuracy with geometric flexibility. We introduce algorithms in the Lagrangian framework that preserve the favorable properties of the field solver in the PIC solver. Fast full-order interpolation and effective search algorithms are used for tracking individual particles on the general grid and smooth particle shape functions are introduced to ensure low noise in the charge and current density. A pre-computed levelset distance function is employed to represent the geometry and facilitates complex particle-boundary interaction. To enforce charge conservation we consider two different techniques, one based on projection and one on hyperbolic cleaning. Both are found to work well, although the latter is found be too expensive when used with explicit time integration. Examples of simple plasma phenomena, e.g., plasma waves, instabilities, and Landau damping are shown to agree well with theoretical predictions and/or results found by other computational methods. We also discuss generic well known problems such as numerical Cherenkov radiation and grid heating before presenting a few two-dimensional tests, showing the potential of the current method to handle fully relativistic plasma dynamics in complex geometries. 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
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
Energy-conserving discontinuous Galerkin methods for the Vlasov-Amp\`{e}re system
In this paper, we propose energy-conserving numerical schemes for the
Vlasov-Amp\`{e}re (VA) systems. The VA system is a model used to describe the
evolution of probability density function of charged particles under self
consistent electric field in plasmas. It conserves many physical quantities,
including the total energy which is comprised of the kinetic and electric
energy. Unlike the total particle number conservation, the total energy
conservation is challenging to achieve. For simulations in longer time ranges,
negligence of this fact could cause unphysical results, such as plasma self
heating or cooling. In this paper, we develop the first Eulerian solvers that
can preserve fully discrete total energy conservation. The main components of
our solvers include explicit or implicit energy-conserving temporal
discretizations, an energy-conserving operator splitting for the VA equation
and discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods for the spatial
discretizations. We validate our schemes by rigorous derivations and benchmark
numerical examples such as Landau damping, two-stream instability and
bump-on-tail instability
High-Order Unstructured Lagrangian One-Step WENO Finite Volume Schemes for Non-Conservative Hyperbolic Systems: Applications to Compressible Multi-Phase Flows
In this article we present the first better than second order accurate
unstructured Lagrangian-type one-step WENO finite volume scheme for the
solution of hyperbolic partial differential equations with non-conservative
products. The method achieves high order of accuracy in space together with
essentially non-oscillatory behavior using a nonlinear WENO reconstruction
operator on unstructured triangular meshes. High order accuracy in time is
obtained via a local Lagrangian space-time Galerkin predictor method that
evolves the spatial reconstruction polynomials in time within each element. The
final one-step finite volume scheme is derived by integration over a moving
space-time control volume, where the non-conservative products are treated by a
path-conservative approach that defines the jump terms on the element
boundaries. The entire method is formulated as an Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian
(ALE) method, where the mesh velocity can be chosen independently of the fluid
velocity.
The new scheme is applied to the full seven-equation Baer-Nunziato model of
compressible multi-phase flows in two space dimensions. The use of a Lagrangian
approach allows an excellent resolution of the solid contact and the resolution
of jumps in the volume fraction. The high order of accuracy of the scheme in
space and time is confirmed via a numerical convergence study. Finally, the
proposed method is also applied to a reduced version of the compressible
Baer-Nunziato model for the simulation of free surface water waves in moving
domains. In particular, the phenomenon of sloshing is studied in a moving water
tank and comparisons with experimental data are provided
Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian One-Step WENO Finite Volume Schemes on Unstructured Triangular Meshes
In this article we present a new class of high order accurate
Arbitrary-Eulerian-Lagrangian (ALE) one-step WENO finite volume schemes for
solving nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws on moving two
dimensional unstructured triangular meshes. A WENO reconstruction algorithm is
used to achieve high order accuracy in space and a high order one-step time
discretization is achieved by using the local space-time Galerkin predictor.
For that purpose, a new element--local weak formulation of the governing PDE is
adopted on moving space--time elements. The space-time basis and test functions
are obtained considering Lagrange interpolation polynomials passing through a
predefined set of nodes. Moreover, a polynomial mapping defined by the same
local space-time basis functions as the weak solution of the PDE is used to map
the moving physical space-time element onto a space-time reference element. To
maintain algorithmic simplicity, the final ALE one-step finite volume scheme
uses moving triangular meshes with straight edges. This is possible in the ALE
framework, which allows a local mesh velocity that is different from the local
fluid velocity. We present numerical convergence rates for the schemes
presented in this paper up to sixth order of accuracy in space and time and
show some classical numerical test problems for the two-dimensional Euler
equations of compressible gas dynamics.Comment: Accepted by "Communications in Computational Physics
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