2,044 research outputs found
Finite difference lattice Boltzmann model with flux limiters for liquid-vapor systems
In this paper we apply a finite difference lattice Boltzmann model to study
the phase separation in a two-dimensional liquid-vapor system. Spurious
numerical effects in macroscopic equations are discussed and an appropriate
numerical scheme involving flux limiter techniques is proposed to minimize them
and guarantee a better numerical stability at very low viscosity. The phase
separation kinetics is investigated and we find evidence of two different
growth regimes depending on the value of the fluid viscosity as well as on the
liquid-vapor ratio.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Constraint and gauge shocks in one-dimensional numerical relativity
We study how different types of blow-ups can occur in systems of hyperbolic
evolution equations of the type found in general relativity. In particular, we
discuss two independent criteria that can be used to determine when such
blow-ups can be expected. One criteria is related with the so-called geometric
blow-up leading to gradient catastrophes, while the other is based upon the
ODE-mechanism leading to blow-ups within finite time. We show how both
mechanisms work in the case of a simple one-dimensional wave equation with a
dynamic wave speed and sources, and later explore how those blow-ups can appear
in one-dimensional numerical relativity. In the latter case we recover the well
known ``gauge shocks'' associated with Bona-Masso type slicing conditions.
However, a crucial result of this study has been the identification of a second
family of blow-ups associated with the way in which the constraints have been
used to construct a hyperbolic formulation. We call these blow-ups ``constraint
shocks'' and show that they are formulation specific, and that choices can be
made to eliminate them or at least make them less severe.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures and 1 table, revised version including several
amendments suggested by the refere
Percolation, Morphogenesis, and Burgers Dynamics in Blood Vessels Formation
Experiments of in vitro formation of blood vessels show that cells randomly
spread on a gel matrix autonomously organize to form a connected vascular
network. We propose a simple model which reproduces many features of the
biological system. We show that both the model and the real system exhibit a
fractal behavior at small scales, due to the process of migration and dynamical
aggregation, followed at large scale by a random percolation behavior due to
the coalescence of aggregates. The results are in good agreement with the
analysis performed on the experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 11 eps figure
An improved formulation of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations in 2D Cartesian coordinates
A number of astrophysical scenarios possess and preserve an overall
cylindrical symmetry also when undergoing a catastrophic and nonlinear
evolution. Exploiting such a symmetry, these processes can be studied through
numerical-relativity simulations at smaller computational costs and at
considerably larger spatial resolutions. We here present a new
flux-conservative formulation of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations in
cylindrical coordinates. By rearranging those terms in the equations which are
the sources of the largest numerical errors, the new formulation yields a
global truncation error which is one or more orders of magnitude smaller than
those of alternative and commonly used formulations. We illustrate this through
a series of numerical tests involving the evolution of oscillating spherical
and rotating stars, as well as shock-tube tests.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure
The Moment Guided Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation
In this work we propose a generalization of the Moment Guided Monte Carlo
method developed in [11]. This approach permits to reduce the variance of the
particle methods through a matching with a set of suitable macroscopic moment
equations. In order to guarantee that the moment equations provide the correct
solutions, they are coupled to the kinetic equation through a non equilibrium
term. Here, at the contrary to the previous work in which we considered the
simplified BGK operator, we deal with the full Boltzmann operator. Moreover, we
introduce an hybrid setting which permits to entirely remove the resolution of
the kinetic equation in the limit of infinite number of collisions and to
consider only the solution of the compressible Euler equation. This
modification additionally reduce the statistical error with respect to our
previous work and permits to perform simulations of non equilibrium gases using
only a few number of particles. We show at the end of the paper several
numerical tests which prove the efficiency and the low level of numerical noise
of the method.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0908.026
The ESPRI project: astrometric exoplanet search with PRIMA I. Instrument description and performance of first light observations
The ESPRI project relies on the astrometric capabilities offered by the PRIMA
facility of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer for the discovery and study
of planetary systems. Our survey consists of obtaining high-precision
astrometry for a large sample of stars over several years and to detect their
barycentric motions due to orbiting planets. We present the operation
principle, the instrument's implementation, and the results of a first series
of test observations. A comprehensive overview of the instrument infrastructure
is given and the observation strategy for dual-field relative astrometry is
presented. The differential delay lines, a key component of the PRIMA facility
which was delivered by the ESPRI consortium, are described and their
performance within the facility is discussed. Observations of bright visual
binaries are used to test the observation procedures and to establish the
instrument's astrometric precision and accuracy. The data reduction strategy
for astrometry and the necessary corrections to the raw data are presented.
Adaptive optics observations with NACO are used as an independent verification
of PRIMA astrometric observations. The PRIMA facility was used to carry out
tests of astrometric observations. The astrometric performance in terms of
precision is limited by the atmospheric turbulence at a level close to the
theoretical expectations and a precision of 30 micro-arcseconds was achieved.
In contrast, the astrometric accuracy is insufficient for the goals of the
ESPRI project and is currently limited by systematic errors that originate in
the part of the interferometer beamtrain which is not monitored by the internal
metrology system. Our observations led to the definition of corrective actions
required to make the facility ready for carrying out the ESPRI search for
extrasolar planets.Comment: 32 pages, 39 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Inertial- and Dissipation-Range Asymptotics in Fluid Turbulence
We propose and verify a wave-vector-space version of generalized extended
self similarity and broaden its applicability to uncover intriguing, universal
scaling in the far dissipation range by computing high-order (\leq 20\/)
structure functions numerically for: (1) the three-dimensional, incompressible
Navier Stokes equation (with and without hyperviscosity); and (2) the GOY shell
model for turbulence. Also, in case (2), with Taylor-microscale Reynolds
numbers 4 \times 10^{4} \leq Re_{\lambda} \leq 3 \times 10^{6}\/, we find
that the inertial-range exponents (\zeta_{p}\/) of the order - p\/
structure functions do not approach their Kolmogorov value p/3\/ as
Re_{\lambda}\/ increases.Comment: RevTeX file, with six postscript figures. epsf.tex macro is used for
figure insertion. Packaged using the 'uufiles' utilit
Meshfree finite differences for vector Poisson and pressure Poisson equations with electric boundary conditions
We demonstrate how meshfree finite difference methods can be applied to solve
vector Poisson problems with electric boundary conditions. In these, the
tangential velocity and the incompressibility of the vector field are
prescribed at the boundary. Even on irregular domains with only convex corners,
canonical nodal-based finite elements may converge to the wrong solution due to
a version of the Babuska paradox. In turn, straightforward meshfree finite
differences converge to the true solution, and even high-order accuracy can be
achieved in a simple fashion. The methodology is then extended to a specific
pressure Poisson equation reformulation of the Navier-Stokes equations that
possesses the same type of boundary conditions. The resulting numerical
approach is second order accurate and allows for a simple switching between an
explicit and implicit treatment of the viscosity terms.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure
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