Figueres, state of the city: the crisis widens the economic and social gap

La crisi econòmica, iniciada l’any 2008, posava fi a uns anys de bonança i creixement econòmic, impactant de forma desigual a les economies locals. A partir de l’anàlisi dels indicadors econòmics i socials es fa un diagnòstic de la ciutat de Figueres, tant de l’impacte de la crisi com dels efectes ara quan l’economia expressa uns primers símptomes de millora. La crisi econòmica ha comportat un augment de la pobresa i de les desigualtats socials, provocant una bretxa social i econòmica tant a nivell intern com en la comparativa territorial dins la xarxa de ciutats catalanes. A partir de la situació socioeconòmica actual es planteja la necessitat d’un canvi de model productiu.The economic crisis, starting in 2008, put an end to a few years of boom and economic growth, impacting local economies unequally. Based on the analysis of economic and social indicators, a diagnosis of the city of Figueres is made, both of the impact of the crisis and of its effects now that the economy expresses its first symptoms of improvement. The economic crisis has led to an increase in poverty and social inequalities, causing a social and economic gap both internally and in a territorial comparison within the network of Catalan cities. Based on the current socio-economic situation, the need for a change in productive models is considered

An adaptive fixed-mesh ALE method for free surface flows

In this work we present a Fixed-Mesh ALE method for the numerical simulation of free surface flows capable of using an adaptive finite element mesh covering a background domain. This mesh is successively refined and unrefined at each time step in order to focus the computational effort on the spatial regions where it is required. Some of the main ingredients of the formulation are the use of an Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation for computing temporal derivatives, the use of stabilization terms for stabilizing convection, stabilizing the lack of compatibility between velocity and pressure interpolation spaces, and stabilizing the ill-conditioning introduced by the cuts on the background finite element mesh, and the coupling of the algorithm with an adaptive mesh refinement procedure suitable for running on distributed memory environments. Algorithmic steps for the projection between meshes are presented together with the algebraic fractional step approach used for improving the condition number of the linear systems to be solved. The method is tested in several numerical examples. The expected convergence rates both in space and time are observed. Smooth solution fields for both velocity and pressure are obtained (as a result of the contribution of the stabilization terms). Finally, a good agreement between the numerical results and the reference experimental data is obtained.Postprint (published version