Embedded discontinuous Galerkin transport schemes with localised limiters

Motivated by finite element spaces used for representation of temperature in the compatible finite element approach for numerical weather prediction, we introduce locally bounded transport schemes for (partially-)continuous finite element spaces. The underlying high-order transport scheme is constructed by injecting the partially-continuous field into an embedding discontinuous finite element space, applying a stable upwind discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme, and projecting back into the partially-continuous space; we call this an embedded DG scheme. We prove that this scheme is stable in L2 provided that the underlying upwind DG scheme is. We then provide a framework for applying limiters for embedded DG transport schemes. Standard DG limiters are applied during the underlying DG scheme. We introduce a new localised form of element-based flux-correction which we apply to limiting the projection back into the partially-continuous space, so that the whole transport scheme is bounded. We provide details in the specific case of tensor-product finite element spaces on wedge elements that are discontinuous P1/Q1 in the horizontal and continuous P2 in the vertical. The framework is illustrated with numerical tests

A conservative implicit multirate method for hyperbolic problems

This work focuses on the development of a self adjusting multirate strategy based on an implicit time discretization for the numerical solution of hyperbolic equations, that could benefit from different time steps in different areas of the spatial domain. We propose a novel mass conservative multirate approach, that can be generalized to various implicit time discretization methods. It is based on flux partitioning, so that flux exchanges between a cell and its neighbors are balanced. A number of numerical experiments on both non-linear scalar problems and systems of hyperbolic equations have been carried out to test the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach

High-order Discretization of a Gyrokinetic Vlasov Model in Edge Plasma Geometry

We present a high-order spatial discretization of a continuum gyrokinetic Vlasov model in axisymmetric tokamak edge plasma geometries. Such models describe the phase space advection of plasma species distribution functions in the absence of collisions. The gyrokinetic model is posed in a four-dimensional phase space, upon which a grid is imposed when discretized. To mitigate the computational cost associated with high-dimensional grids, we employ a high-order discretization to reduce the grid size needed to achieve a given level of accuracy relative to lower-order methods. Strong anisotropy induced by the magnetic field motivates the use of mapped coordinate grids aligned with magnetic flux surfaces. The natural partitioning of the edge geometry by the separatrix between the closed and open field line regions leads to the consideration of multiple mapped blocks, in what is known as a mapped multiblock (MMB) approach. We describe the specialization of a more general formalism that we have developed for the construction of high-order, finite-volume discretizations on MMB grids, yielding the accurate evaluation of the gyrokinetic Vlasov operator, the metric factors resulting from the MMB coordinate mappings, and the interaction of blocks at adjacent boundaries. Our conservative formulation of the gyrokinetic Vlasov model incorporates the fact that the phase space velocity has zero divergence, which must be preserved discretely to avoid truncation error accumulation. We describe an approach for the discrete evaluation of the gyrokinetic phase space velocity that preserves the divergence-free property to machine precision

A seamless, extended DG approach for advection-diffusion problems on unbounded domains

We propose and analyze a seamless extended Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretization of advection-diffusion equations on semi-infinite domains. The semi-infinite half line is split into a finite subdomain where the model uses a standard polynomial basis, and a semi-unbounded subdomain where scaled Laguerre functions are employed as basis and test functions. Numerical fluxes enable the coupling at the interface between the two subdomains in the same way as standard single domain DG interelement fluxes. A novel linear analysis on the extended DG model yields unconditional stability with respect to the P\'eclet number. Errors due to the use of different sets of basis functions on different portions of the domain are negligible, as highlighted in numerical experiments with the linear advection-diffusion and viscous Burgers' equations. With an added damping term on the semi-infinite subdomain, the extended framework is able to efficiently simulate absorbing boundary conditions without additional conditions at the interface. A few modes in the semi-infinite subdomain are found to suffice to deal with outgoing single wave and wave train signals more accurately than standard approaches at a given computational cost, thus providing an appealing model for fluid flow simulations in unbounded regions.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

Flexible and efficient discretizations of multilayer models with variable density

We show that the semi-implicit time discretization approaches previously introduced for multilayer shallow water models for the barotropic case can be also applied to the variable density case with Boussinesq approximation. Furthermore, also for the variable density equations, a variable number of layers can be used, so as to achieve greater flexibility and efficiency of the resulting multilayer approach. An analysis of the linearized system, which allows to derive linear stability parameters in simple configurations, and the resulting spatially semi-discretized equations are presented. A number of numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Multilayer shallow water models with locally variable number of layers and semi-implicit time discretization

We propose an extension of the discretization approaches for multilayer shallow water models, aimed at making them more flexible and efficient for realistic applications to coastal flows. A novel discretization approach is proposed, in which the number of vertical layers and their distribution are allowed to change in different regions of the computational domain. Furthermore, semi-implicit schemes are employed for the time discretization, leading to a significant efficiency improvement for subcritical regimes. We show that, in the typical regimes in which the application of multilayer shallow water models is justified, the resulting discretization does not introduce any major spurious feature and allows again to reduce substantially the computational cost in areas with complex bathymetry. As an example of the potential of the proposed technique, an application to a sediment transport problem is presented, showing a remarkable improvement with respect to standard discretization approaches