A k-space method for nonlinear wave propagation

A k-space method for nonlinear wave propagation in absorptive media is presented. The Westervelt equation is first transferred into k-space via Fourier transformation, and is solved by a modified wave-vector time-domain scheme [Mast et al., IEEE Tran. Ultrason. Ferroelectr. Freq. Control 48, 341-354 (2001)]. The present approach is not limited to forward propagation or parabolic approximation. One- and two-dimensional problems are investigated to verify the method by comparing results to the finite element method. It is found that, in order to obtain accurate results in homogeneous media, the grid size can be as little as two points per wavelength, and for a moderately nonlinear problem, the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy number can be as small as 0.4. As a result, the k-space method for nonlinear wave propagation is shown here to be computationally more efficient than the conventional finite element method or finite-difference time-domain method for the conditions studied here. However, although the present method is highly accurate for weakly inhomogeneous media, it is found to be less accurate for strongly inhomogeneous media. A possible remedy to this limitation is discussed

Performance of affine-splitting pseudo-spectral methods for fractional complex Ginzburg-Landau equations

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of novel numerical methods for solving one-dimensional nonlinear fractional dispersive and dissipative evolution equations. The methods are based on affine combinations of time-splitting integrators and pseudo-spectral discretizations using Hermite and Fourier expansions. We show the effectiveness of the proposed methods by numerically computing the dynamics of soliton solutions of the the standard and fractional variants of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLSE) and the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE), and by comparing the results with those obtained by standard splitting integrators. An exhaustive numerical investigation shows that the new technique is competitive with traditional composition-splitting schemes for the case of Hamiltonian problems both in terms accuracy and computational cost. Moreover, it is applicable straightforwardly to irreversible models, outperforming high-order symplectic integrators which could become unstable due to their need of negative time steps. Finally, we discuss potential improvements of the numerical methods aimed to increase their efficiency, and possible applications to the investigation of dissipative solitons that arise in nonlinear optical systems of contemporary interest. Overall, our method offers a promising alternative for solving a wide range of evolutionary partial differential equations.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figure

New, efficient, and accurate high order derivative and dissipation operators satisfying summation by parts, and applications in three-dimensional multi-block evolutions

We construct new, efficient, and accurate high-order finite differencing operators which satisfy summation by parts. Since these operators are not uniquely defined, we consider several optimization criteria: minimizing the bandwidth, the truncation error on the boundary points, the spectral radius, or a combination of these. We examine in detail a set of operators that are up to tenth order accurate in the interior, and we surprisingly find that a combination of these optimizations can improve the operators' spectral radius and accuracy by orders of magnitude in certain cases. We also construct high-order dissipation operators that are compatible with these new finite difference operators and which are semi-definite with respect to the appropriate summation by parts scalar product. We test the stability and accuracy of these new difference and dissipation operators by evolving a three-dimensional scalar wave equation on a spherical domain consisting of seven blocks, each discretized with a structured grid, and connected through penalty boundary conditions.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. The files with the coefficients for the derivative and dissipation operators can be accessed by downloading the source code for the document. The files are located in the "coeffs" subdirector

Fourier-Splitting methods for the dynamics of rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

We present a new method to propagate rotating Bose-Einstein condensates subject to explicitly time-dependent trapping potentials. Using algebraic techniques, we combine Magnus expansions and splitting methods to yield any order methods for the multivariate and nonautonomous quadratic part of the Hamiltonian that can be computed using only Fourier transforms at the cost of solving a small system of polynomial equations. The resulting scheme solves the challenging component of the (nonlinear) Hamiltonian and can be combined with optimized splitting methods to yield efficient algorithms for rotating Bose-Einstein condensates. The method is particularly efficient for potentials that can be regarded as perturbed rotating and trapped condensates, e.g., for small nonlinearities, since it retains the near-integrable structure of the problem. For large nonlinearities, the method remains highly efficient if higher order p > 2 is sought. Furthermore, we show how it can adapted to the presence of dissipation terms. Numerical examples illustrate the performance of the scheme.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, as submitted to journa

FFT-LB modeling of thermal liquid-vapor systems

We further develop a thermal LB model for multiphase flows. In the improved model, we propose to use the FFT scheme to calculate both the convection term and external force term. The usage of FFT scheme is detailed and analyzed. By using the FFT algorithm spatiotemporal discretization errors are decreased dramatically and the conservation of total energy is much better preserved. A direct consequence of the improvement is that the unphysical spurious velocities at the interfacial regions can be damped to neglectable scale. Together with the better conservation of total energy, the more accurate flow velocities lead to the more accurate temperature field which determines the dynamical and final states of the system. With the new model, the phase diagram of the liquid-vapor system obtained from simulation is more consistent with that from theoretical calculation. Very sharp interfaces can be achieved. The accuracy of simulation results are also verified by the Laplace law. The FFT scheme can be easily applied to other models for multiphase flows.Comment: 34 pages, 21 figure