Jimmy Fung

Compatible, energy conserving, bounds preserving remap of hydrodynamic fields for an extended ALE scheme

Abstract From the very origins of numerical hydrodynamics in the Lagrangian work of von Neumann and Richtmyer [83] , the issue of total energy conservation as well as entropy production has been problematic. Because of well known problems with mesh deformation, Lagrangian schemes have evolved into Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) methods [39] that combine the best properties of Lagrangian and Eulerian methods. Energy issues have persisted for this class of methods. We believe that fundamental issues of energy conservation and entropy production in ALE require further examination. The context of the paper is an ALE scheme that is extended in the sense that it permits cyclic or periodic remap of data between grids of the same or differing connectivity. The principal design goals for a remap method then consist of total energy conservation, bounded internal energy, and compatibility of kinetic energy and momentum. We also have secondary objectives of limiting velocity and stress in a non-directional manner, keeping primitive variables monotone, and providing a higher than second order reconstruction of remapped variables. In particular, the new contributions fall into three categories associated with: energy conservation and entropy production, reconstruction and bounds preservation of scalar and tensor fields, and conservative remap of nonlinear fields. The paper presents a derivation of the methods, details of implementation, and numerical results for a number of test problems. The methods requires volume integration of polynomial functions in polytopal cells with planar facets, and the requisite expressions are derived for arbitrary order.

The Sedov Test Problem

The Sedov test is classically defined as a point blast problem. The Sedov problem has led us to advances in algorithms and in their understanding. Vorticity generation can be physical or numerical. Both play a role in Sedov calculations. The RAGE code (Eulerian) resolves the shock well, but produces vorticity. The source definition matters. For the FLAG code (Lagrange), CCH is superior to SGH by avoiding spurious vorticity generation. FLAG SGH currently has a number of options that improve results over traditional settings. Vorticity production, not shock capture, has driven the Sedov work. We are pursuing treatments with respect to the hydro discretization as well as to artificial viscosity.