Uri Shumlak

Approximate Riemann solver for the two-fluid plasma model

An algorithm is presented for the simulation of plasma dynamics using the two-fluid plasma model. The two-fluid plasma model is more general than the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model often used for plasma dynamic simulations. The two-fluid equations are derived in divergence form and an approximate Riemann solver is developed to compute the fluxes of the electron and ion fluids at the computational cell interfaces and an upwind characteristic-based solver to compute the electromagnetic fields. The source terms that couple the fluids and fields are treated implicitly to relax the stiffness. The algorithm is validated with the coplanar Riemann problem, Langmuir plasma oscillations, and the electromagnetic shock problem that has been simulated with the MHD plasma model. A numerical dispersion relation is also presented that demonstrates agreement with analytical plasma waves.

A general nonlinear fluid model for reacting plasma-neutral mixtures

A generalized, computationally tractable fluid model for capturing the effects of neutral particles in plasmas is derived. The model derivation begins with Boltzmann equations for singly charged ions, electrons, and a single neutral species. Electron-impact ionization, radiative recombination, and resonant charge exchange reactions are included. Moments of the reaction collision terms are detailed. Moments of the Boltzmann equations for electron, ion, and neutral species are combined to yield a two-component plasma-neutral fluid model. Separate density, momentum, and energy equations, each including reaction transfer terms, are produced for the plasma and neutral equations. The required closures for the plasma-neutral model are discussed.

A Discontinuous Galerkin Method for the Full Two-Fluid Plasma Model

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the full two-fluid plasma model is described. The plasma model includes complete electron and ion fluids, which allows charge separation, separate electron and ion temperatures and velocities. Complete Maxwells equations are used including displacement current. The algorithm is validated by benchmarking against existing plasma algorithms on the GEM Challenge magnetic reconnection problem. The algorithm can be easily extended to three dimensions, higher order accuracy, general geometries and parallel platforms.

Advanced physics calculations using a multi-fluid plasma model

Abstract The multi-fluid plasma model is derived from moments of the Boltzmann equation and typically has two fluids representing electron and ion species. Large mass differences between electrons and ions introduce disparate temporal and spatial scales and require a numerical algorithm with sufficient accuracy to capture the multiple scales. Source terms of the multi-fluid plasma model couple the fluids to themselves (interspecies interactions) and to the electromagnetic fields. The numerical algorithm must treat the inherent stiffness introduced by the multiple physical effects of the model and tightly couple the source terms of the governing equations. A discontinuous Galerkin method is implemented for the spatial representation. Time integration is investigated using explicit, implicit, semi-implicit methods. Semi-implicit treatment is accomplished using a physics-based splitting. The algorithm is applied to study drift turbulence in field reversed configuration plasmas to illustrate the physical accuracy of the model. The algorithm is also applied to plasma sheath formation which demonstrates Langmuir wave propagation.

A Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Ideal Two-Fluid Plasma Equations

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the ideal 5 moment two-fluid plasma system is presented. The method uses a second or third order discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization and a third order TVD Runge-Kutta time stepping scheme. The method is benchmarked against an analytic solution of a dispersive electron acoustic square pulse as well as the two-fluid electromagnetic shock (1) and existing numerical solutions to the GEM challenge magnetic reconnection problem (2). The algorithm can be generalized to arbitrary geometries and three dimensions. An approach to main- taining small gauge errors based on error propagation is suggested.

Spectral element spatial discretization error in solving highly anisotropic heat conduction equation

This paper describes a study of the effects of the overall spatial resolution, polynomial degree and computational grid directionality on the accuracy of numerical solutions of a highly anisotropic thermal diffusion equation using the spectral element spatial discretization method. The high-order spectral element macroscopic modeling code SEL/HiFi has been used to explore the parameter space. It is shown that for a given number of spatial degrees of freedom, increasing polynomial degree while reducing the number of elements results in exponential reduction of the numerical error. The alignment of the grid with the direction of anisotropy is shown to further improve the accuracy of the solution. These effects are qualitatively explained and numerically quantified in 2- and 3-dimensional calculations with straight and curved anisotropy.

Modeling open boundaries in dissipative MHD simulation

The truncation of large physical domains to concentrate computational resources is necessary or desirable in simulating many natural and man-made plasma phenomena. Three open boundary condition (BC) methods for such domain truncation of dissipative magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) problems are described and compared here. A novel technique, lacuna-based open boundary conditions (LOBC), is presented for applying open BC to dissipative MHD and other hyperbolic and mixed hyperbolic-parabolic systems of partial differential equations. LOBC, based on manipulating Calderon-type near-boundary sources, essentially damp hyperbolic effects in an exterior region attached to the simulation domain and apply BC appropriate for the remaining parabolic effects (if present) at the exterior region boundary. Another technique, approximate Riemann BC (ARBC), is adapted from finite volume and discontinuous Galerkin methods. In ARBC, the value of incoming flux is specified using a local, characteristic-based method. A third commonly-used open BC, zero-normal derivative BC (ZND BC), is presented for comparison. These open BC are tested in several gas dynamics and dissipative MHD problems. LOBC are found to give stable, low-reflection solutions even in the presence of strong parabolic behavior, while ARBC are stable only when hyperbolic behavior is dominant. Pros and cons of the techniques are discussed and put into context within the body of open BC research to date.

A priori mesh quality metric error analysis applied to a high-order finite element method

Characterization of computational meshs quality prior to performing a numerical simulation is an important step in insuring that the result is valid. A highly distorted mesh can result in significant errors. It is therefore desirable to predict solution accuracy on a given mesh. The HiFi/SEL high-order finite element code is used to study the effects of various mesh distortions on solution quality of known analytic problems for spatial discretizations with different order of finite elements. The measured global error norms are compared to several mesh quality metrics by independently varying both the degree of the distortions and the order of the finite elements. It is found that the spatial spectral convergence rates are preserved for all considered distortion types, while the total error increases with the degree of distortion. For each distortion type, correlations between the measured solution error and the different mesh metrics are quantified, identifying the most appropriate overall mesh metric. The results show promise for future a priori computational mesh quality determination and improvement.

Discrete Calderon's projections on parallelepipeds and their application to computing exterior magnetic fields for FRC plasmas

Confining dense plasma in a field reversed configuration (FRC) is considered a promising approach to fusion. Numerical simulation of this process requires setting artificial boundary conditions (ABCs) for the magnetic field because whereas the plasma itself occupies a bounded region (within the FRC coils), the field extends from this region all the way to infinity. If the plasma is modeled using single fluid magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), then the exterior magnetic field can be considered quasi-static. This field has a scalar potential governed by the Laplace equation. The quasi-static ABC for the magnetic field is obtained using the method of difference potentials, in the form of a discrete Calderon boundary equation with projection on the artificial boundary shaped as a parallelepiped. The Calderon projection itself is computed by convolution with the discrete fundamental solution on the three-dimensional Cartesian grid.

A blended continuous–discontinuous finite element method for solving the multi-fluid plasma model

Abstract The multi-fluid plasma model represents electrons, multiple ion species, and multiple neutral species as separate fluids that interact through short-range collisions and long-range electromagnetic fields. The model spans a large range of temporal and spatial scales, which renders the model stiff and presents numerical challenges. To address the large range of timescales, a blended continuous and discontinuous Galerkin method is proposed, where the massive ion and neutral species are modeled using an explicit discontinuous Galerkin method while the electrons and electromagnetic fields are modeled using an implicit continuous Galerkin method. This approach is able to capture large-gradient ion and neutral physics like shock formation, while resolving high-frequency electron dynamics in a computationally efficient manner. The details of the Blended Finite Element Method (BFEM) are presented. The numerical method is benchmarked for accuracy and tested using two-fluid one-dimensional soliton problem and electromagnetic shock problem. The results are compared to conventional finite volume and finite element methods, and demonstrate that the BFEM is particularly effective in resolving physics in stiff problems involving realistic physical parameters, including realistic electron mass and speed of light. The benefit is illustrated by computing a three-fluid plasma application that demonstrates species separation in multi-component plasmas.