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DOE OSTI2015

Multirate Particle-in-Cell Time Integration Techniques of Vlasov-Maxwell Equations for Collisionless Kinetic Plasma Simulations

A multi-rate PIC formulation was developed that employs large timesteps for slow field evolution, and small (adaptive) timesteps for particle orbit integrations. Implementation is based on a JFNK solver with nonlinear elimination and moment preconditioning. The approach is free of numerical instabilities (ω pe Δt >>1, and Δx >> λ D ), and requires many fewer dofs (vs. explicit PIC) for comparable accuracy in challenging problems. Significant gains (vs. conventional explicit PIC) may be possible for large scale simulations. The paper is organized as follows: Vlasov-Maxwell Particle-in-cell (PIC) methods for plasmas; Explicit, semi-implicit, and implicit time integrations; Implicit PIC formulation (Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) with nonlinear elimination allows different treatments of disparate scales, discrete conservation properties (energy, charge, canonical momentum, etc.)); Some numerical examples; and Summary.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

An overlapping Domain Decomposition preconditioning method for monolithic solution of shear bands

Metals subjected to high strain rate impact often exhibit a sudden and profound drop in the material’s load bearing capability, a ductile failure phenomenon known as shear banding. Shear bands, characterized as material instabilities, are driven by shear heating and described as narrow regions that have sustained intense plastic deformation and high temperature rise. This coupled thermo-mechanical localization problem can be formulated as a nonlinear system with two balance equations, momentum and energy, and two constitutive laws for elasticity and plasticity. Here in our formulation, mixed finite elements are used to discretize the equations in space and an implicit finite difference scheme is used to advance the system in time, where at every time step, a Newton type method is used to solve the system monolithically. To that end, a block Jacobian matrix is formed analytically using Gâteaux derivatives. The resulting Jacobian is sparse, nonsymmetric and its sparsity pattern and eigenvalue content vary with the different stages of shear bands formation, consequently posing a significant challenge to iterative solvers. To address this issue, an overlapping Domain Decomposition preconditioner that takes into account the physics of shear bands and the domain in which it forms, is proposed. The key idea is to resolve the shear band domain accurately while only solving the remaining domain approximately, with selective updates when necessary. The preconditioner is formed on the basis of an additive Schwartz method that is applied to a Schur complement partition of the system. The proposed preconditioner is implemented in parallel and tested on three different benchmark problems as compared against off-the-shelf solvers. We study the effect of h- and k-refinement that are obtained from Isogeometric discretizations of the system, the overlapping strategy and its parallel performance. Excellent performance is demonstrated in serial and parallel on all benchmark examples.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1992

Development of iterative techniques for the solution of unsteady compressible viscous flows

The development of efficient iterative solution methods for the numerical solution of two- and three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations is discussed. Iterative time marching methods have several advantages over classical multi-step explicit time marching schemes, and non-iterative implicit time marching schemes. Iterative schemes have better stability characteristics than non-iterative explicit and implicit schemes. In this work, another approach based on the classical conjugate gradient method, known as the Generalized Minimum Residual (GMRES) algorithm is investigated. The GMRES algorithm has been used in the past by a number of researchers for solving steady viscous and inviscid flow problems. Here, we investigate the suitability of this algorithm for solving the system of non-linear equations that arise in unsteady Navier-Stokes solvers at each time step.

Sankar, Lakshmi N.↗

DOE OSTI2022

An unconditionally stable, time-implicit algorithm for solving the one-dimensional Vlasov–Poisson system

The development of an implicit, unconditionally stable, numerical method for solving the Vlasov–Poisson system in one dimension using a phase-space grid is presented. The algorithm uses the Crank–Nicolson discretization scheme and operator splitting allowing for direct solution of the finite difference equations. This method exactly conserves particle number, enstrophy and momentum. A variant of the algorithm which does not use splitting also exactly conserves energy but requires the use of iterative solvers. This algorithm has no dissipation and thus fine-scale variations can lead to oscillations and the production of negative values of the distribution function. We find that overall, the effects of negative values of the distribution function are relatively benign. We consider a variety of test cases that have been used extensively in the literature where numerical results can be compared with analytical solutions or growth rates. We examine higher-order differencing and construct higher-order temporal updates using standard composition methods.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

A hybrid incremental projection method for thermal-hydraulics applications

In this paper, a new second-order accurate, hybrid, incremental projection method for time-dependent incompressible viscous flow is introduced in this paper. The hybrid finite-element/finite-volume discretization circumvents the well-known Ladyzhenskaya–Babuška–Brezzi conditions for stability, and does not require special treatment to filter pressure modes by either Rhie–Chow interpolation or by using a Petrov–Galerkin finite element formulation. The use of a co-velocity with a high-resolution advection method and a linearly consistent edge-based treatment of viscous/diffusive terms yields a robust algorithm for a broad spectrum of incompressible flows. The high-resolution advection method is shown to deliver second-order spatial convergence on mixed element topology meshes, and the implicit advective treatment significantly increases the stable time-step size. The algorithm is robust and extensible, permitting the incorporation of features such as porous media flow, RANS and LES turbulence models, and semi-/fully-implicit time stepping. A series of verification and validation problems are used to illustrate the convergence properties of the algorithm. The temporal stability properties are demonstrated on a range of problems with 2 ≤ CFL ≤ 100. The new flow solver is built using the Hydra multiphysics toolkit. The Hydra toolkit is written in C++ and provides a rich suite of extensible and fully-parallel components that permit rapid application development, supports multiple discretization techniques, provides I/O interfaces, dynamic run-time load balancing and data migration, and interfaces to scalable popular linear solvers, e.g., in open-source packages such as HYPRE, PETSc, and Trilinos.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2017

A tightly-coupled domain-decomposition approach for highly nonlinear stochastic multiphysics systems

Multiphysics simulations often involve nonlinear components that are driven by internally generated or externally imposed random fluctuations. When used with a domain-decomposition (DD) algorithm, such components have to be coupled in a way that both accurately propagates the noise between the subdomains and lends itself to a stable and cost-effective temporal integration. We develop a conservative DD approach in which tight coupling is obtained by using a Jacobian-free Newton–Krylov (JfNK) method with a generalized minimum residual iterative linear solver. This strategy is tested on a coupled nonlinear diffusion system forced by a truncated Gaussian noise at the boundary. Enforcement of path-wise continuity of the state variable and its flux, as opposed to continuity in the mean, at interfaces between subdomains enables the DD algorithm to correctly propagate boundary fluctuations throughout the computational domain. Reliance on a single Newton iteration (explicit coupling), rather than on the fully converged JfNK (implicit) coupling, may increase the solution error by an order of magnitude. Increase in communication frequency between the DD components reduces the explicit coupling's error, but makes it less efficient than the implicit coupling at comparable error levels for all noise strengths considered. Finally, the DD algorithm with the implicit JfNK coupling resolves temporally-correlated fluctuations of the boundary noise when the correlation time of the latter exceeds some multiple of an appropriately defined characteristic diffusion time.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

NASA NTRS1989

A class of high resolution explicit and implicit shock-capturing methods

An attempt is made to give a unified and generalized formulation of a class of high resolution, explicit and implicit shock capturing methods, and to illustrate their versatility in various steady and unsteady complex shock wave computations. Included is a systematic review of the basic design principle of the various related numerical methods. Special emphasis is on the construction of the basis nonlinear, spatially second and third order schemes for nonlinear scalar hyperbolic conservation laws and the methods of extending these nonlinear scalar schemes to nonlinear systems via the approximate Riemann solvers and the flux vector splitting approaches. Generalization of these methods to efficiently include equilibrium real gases and large systems of nonequilibrium flows are discussed. Some issues concerning the applicability of these methods that were designed for homogeneous hyperbolic conservation laws to problems containing stiff source terms and shock waves are also included. The performance of some of these schemes is illustrated by numerical examples for 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional gas dynamics problems.

Yee, H. C.↗

DOE OSTI2014

Compressible, multiphase semi-implicit method with moment of fluid interface representation

A unified method for simulating multiphase flows using an exactly mass, momentum, and energy conserving Cell-Integrated Semi-Lagrangian advection algorithm is presented. The deforming material boundaries are represented using the moment-of-fluid method. Our new algorithm uses a semi-implicit pressure update scheme that asymptotically preserves the standard incompressible pressure projection method in the limit of infinite sound speed. The asymptotically preserving attribute makes the new method applicable to compressible and incompressible flows including stiff materials; enabling large time steps characteristic of incompressible flow algorithms rather than the small time steps required by explicit methods. Moreover, shocks are captured and material discontinuities are tracked, without the aid of any approximate or exact Riemann solvers. As a result, wimulations of underwater explosions and fluid jetting in one, two, and three dimensions are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of the new algorithm at efficiently computing multiphase flows containing shock waves and material discontinuities with large “impedance mismatch.”

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2014

Development of an Advanced Simulator to Model Mobility Control and Geomechanics during CO 2 Floods

The simulator is an isothermal, three-dimensional, four-phase, compositional, equation-of–state (EOS) simulator. We have named the simulator UTDOE-CO2 capable of simulating various recovery processes (i.e., primary, secondary waterflooding, and miscible and immiscible gas flooding). We include both the Peng-Robinson EOS and the Redlich-Kwong EOS models. A Gibbs stability test is also included in the model to perform a phase identification test to consistently label each phase for subsequent property calculations such as relative permeability, viscosity, density, interfacial tension, and capillary pressure. Our time step strategy is based on an IMPEC-type method (implicit pressure and explicit concentration). The gridblock pressure is solved first using the explicit dating of saturation-dependent terms. Subsequently, the material balance equations are solved explicitly for the total concentration of each component. The physical dispersion term is also included in the governing equations. The simulator includes (1) several foam model(s) for gas mobility control, (2) compositional relative permeability models with the hysteresis option, (3) corner point grid and several efficient solvers, (4) geomechanics module to compute stress field as the result of CO 2 injection/production, (5) the format of commercial visualization software, S3graf from Science-soft Ltd., was implemented for user friendly visualization of the simulation results. All tasks are completed and the simulator was fully tested and delivered to the DOE office including a user’s guide and several input files and the executable for Windows Pcs. We have published several SPE papers, presented several posters, and one MS thesis is completed (V. Pudugramam, 2013) resulting from this DOE funded project.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2016

Developing A Fully Implicit Compressible Flow Valve Model in RELAP-7 and Its Application in Short Term BWR Station Black-Out Analyses

This paper presents a set of dynamical models for SRV simulation and their implementation in the RELAP-7 code, which is a new reactor system analysis code being developed at INL. RELAP-7 is based on the MOOSE (the Multi-Physics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment) framework. The compressible flow SRV model covers three different sets of models: fully closed case, subsonic case, and choking case. The RELAP-7 is a fully implicit code and the preconditioned Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) method is used to solve the discretized nonlinear problem. The JFNK method generally needs a good preconditioning scheme to be effective and efficient. There are different ways to precondition the JFNK method. In RELAP-7, two main options are used to obtain the preconditioning matrix: (1) FDP (Finite Difference Preconditioning) option which uses the default finite differencing method provided in the PETSc package. PETSc is the numerical solver software developed by Argonne National Laboratory and used by MOOSE as the numerical solution engine; (2) SMP (Single Matrix Preconditioning) option which requires code developers to provide approximate analytical Jacobian inputs for the important diagonal and off-diagonal terms. Due to the strong discontinuity in the residual vector space when the compressible flow valve model switches from one set of model to another, FDP option cannot guarantee convergence. Instead, accurate analytical Jacobain terms are provided for the compressible flow valve model. With the SMP option selected, the compressible flow valve model can be solved efficiently under different cases. The developed compressible flow valve model has been used for SRV component simulation in several simplified BWR SBO (Station Black-Out) simulations with RELAP-7. This paper only presents cases for short-term SBO in which all the safety systems fail to start and function properly when SBO occurs. Consequently, only the SRVs automatically open and close periodically to control the primary system pressure and discharge the high temperature and high pressure steam into the suppression pool. Although simplified, this case is quite similar to what happened in Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1. Unit 1 had no RCIC system, while the isolation condenser system was believed to be non-functioning, or only available for a very short period of time during the accident. Therefore, the Unit 1 reactor core reached a fuel failure temperature only a few hours into the accident. Two short-term SBO cases will be compared: one with single SRV discharge line which represents all the SRV lines and another case with multi-group SRVs which represent each group of SRV line with different setting points.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Solving implicit multi-mesh flow and conjugate heat transfer problems with RELAP-7

The fully implicit simulation capability of RELAP-7 to solve multi-mesh flow and conjugate heat transfer problems for reactor system safety analysis is presented. Compared to general single-mesh simulations, the reactor system safety analysis-type of code has unique challenges due to its highly simplified, interconnected, one-dimensional, and zero-dimensional flow network describing multiple physics with significantly different time and length scales. To use the Jacobian-free Newton Krylov-type of solver, preconditioning is generally required for the Krylov method. The uniqueness of the reactor safety analysis-type of code in treating the interconnected flow network and conjugate heat transfer also introduces challenges in providing preconditioning matrix. Typical flow and conjugate heat transfer problems involved in reactor safety analysis using RELAP-7, as well as the special treatment on the preconditioning matrix are presented in detail. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Implicit Large-Eddy Simulation of Single-Injector Cooling Flow

The turbulent heat flux vector plays a critical role in aero-propulsion flow. Currently, traditional RANS based methods do not currently have reliable closures which can accurately predict the turbulent transport of heat. Scale Resolving Simulations can provide critical insight into this fundamental fluid mechanism. Large-eddy Simulations (LES) were performed on the single-hole film-cooling experimental configuration from the recent experiments conducted at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC)[1]. The experiment of Wernet et al. obtained mean and fluctuating temperatures which can be used to validate LES results predicting the turbulent heat flux vector. The FDL3DI flow solver was used to complete simulations of two blowing ratios of the THX - III dataset. A grid sensitivity study was also performed. Initial LES results show promising agreement between the simulation and experimental measurements.

High-Order methods↗

NASA NTRS1993

Development of computational methods for heavy lift launch vehicles

The research effort has been focused on the development of an advanced flow solver for complex viscous turbulent flows with shock waves. The three-dimensional Euler and full/thin-layer Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for compressible flows are solved on structured hexahedral grids. The Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model is used for closure. The space discretization is based on a cell-centered finite-volume method augmented by a variety of numerical dissipation models with optional total variation diminishing limiters. The governing equations are integrated in time by an implicit method based on lower-upper factorization and symmetric Gauss-Seidel relaxation. The algorithm is vectorized on diagonal planes of sweep using two-dimensional indices in three dimensions. A new computer program named CENS3D has been developed for viscous turbulent flows with discontinuities. Details of the code are described in Appendix A and Appendix B. With the developments of the numerical algorithm and dissipation model, the simulation of three-dimensional viscous compressible flows has become more efficient and accurate. The results of the research are expected to yield a direct impact on the design process of future liquid fueled launch systems.

Yoon, Seokkwan↗

DOE OSTI2015

Multiscale Simulation of Moist Global Atmospheric Flows

The overarching goal of this award was to include phase changes of the water substance and accompanying latent heating and precipitation processes into the all-scale nonhydrostatic atmospheric dynamics EUlerian/LAGrangian (EULAG) model. The model includes fluid flow solver that is based on either an unabbreviated set of the governing equations (i.e., compressible dynamics) or a simplified set of equations without sound waves (i.e., sound-proof, either anelastic or pseudo-incompressible). The latter set has been used in small-scale dynamics for decades, but its application to the all-scale dynamics (from small-scale to planetary) has never been studied in practical implementations. The highlight of the project is the development of the moist implicit compressible model that can be run by applying time steps, as long as the anelastic model is limited only by the computational stability of the fluid flow and not by the speed of sound waves that limit the stability of explicit compressible models. Applying various versions of the EULAG model within the same numerical framework allows for an unprecedented comparison of solutions obtained with various sets of the governing equations and straightforward evaluation of the impact of various physical parameterizations on the model solutions. The main outcomes of this study are reported in three papers, two published and one currently under review. These papers include comparisons between model solutions for idealized moist problems across the range of scales from small to planetary. These tests include: moist thermals rising in the stable-stratified environment (following Grabowski and Clark, J. Atmos. Sci. 1991) and in the moist-neutral environment (after Bryan and Fritsch, Mon. Wea. Rev. 2002), moist flows over a mesoscale topography (as in Grabowski and Smolarkiewicz, Mon. Wea. Rev. 2002), deep convection in a sheared environment (following Weisman and Klemp, Mon. Wea. Rev. 1982), moist extension of the baroclinic wave on the sphere of Jablonowski and Williamson (Q. J. R. Met. Soc. 2006), and moist extension of the Held-Suarez idealized climate benchmark (Held and Suarez, Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 1994).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1997

Efficient Gradient-Based Shape Optimization Methodology Using Inviscid/Viscous CFD

The formerly developed preconditioned-biconjugate-gradient (PBCG) solvers for the analysis and the sensitivity equations had resulted in very large error reductions per iteration; quadratic convergence was achieved whenever the solution entered the domain of attraction to the root. Its memory requirement was also lower as compared to a direct inversion solver. However, this memory requirement was high enough to preclude the realistic, high grid-density design of a practical 3D geometry. This limitation served as the impetus to the first-year activity (March 9, 1995 to March 8, 1996). Therefore, the major activity for this period was the development of the low-memory methodology for the discrete-sensitivity-based shape optimization. This was accomplished by solving all the resulting sets of equations using an alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) approach. The results indicated that shape optimization problems which required large numbers of grid points could be resolved with a gradient-based approach. Therefore, to better utilize the computational resources, it was recommended that a number of coarse grid cases, using the PBCG method, should initially be conducted to better define the optimization problem and the design space, and obtain an improved initial shape. Subsequently, a fine grid shape optimization, which necessitates using the ADI method, should be conducted to accurately obtain the final optimized shape. The other activity during this period was the interaction with the members of the Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Methods Branch of Langley Research Center during one stage of their investigation to develop an adjoint-variable sensitivity method using the viscous flow equations. This method had algorithmic similarities to the variational sensitivity methods and the control-theory approach. However, unlike the prior studies, it was considered for the three-dimensional, viscous flow equations. The major accomplishment in the second period of this project (March 9, 1996 to March 8, 1997) was the extension of the shape optimization methodology for the Thin-Layer Navier-Stokes equations. Both the Euler-based and the TLNS-based analyses compared with the analyses obtained using the CFL3D code. The sensitivities, again from both levels of the flow equations, also compared very well with the finite-differenced sensitivities. A fairly large set of shape optimization cases were conducted to study a number of issues previously not well understood. The testbed for these cases was the shaping of an arrow wing in Mach 2.4 flow. All the final shapes, obtained either from a coarse-grid-based or a fine-grid-based optimization, using either a Euler-based or a TLNS-based analysis, were all re-analyzed using a fine-grid, TLNS solution for their function evaluations. This allowed for a more fair comparison of their relative merits. From the aerodynamic performance standpoint, the fine-grid TLNS-based optimization produced the best shape, and the fine-grid Euler-based optimization produced the lowest cruise efficiency.

Baysal, Oktay↗

DOE OSTI2023

On a fully-implicit VMS-stabilized FE formulation for low Mach number compressible resistive MHD with application to MCF

This study presents the development and evaluation of a fully-implicit variational multiscale (VMS) stabilized unstructured finite element (FE) formulation for compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model, at low Mach number regime. The model describes the dynamics of a compressible conducting fluid in the low Mach number limit in the presence of electromagnetic fields and can be used to study aspects of astrophysical phenomena, important science and technology applications, and basic plasma physics phenomena. The specific applications that motivate this study are macroscopic simulations of the longer time-scale stability and disruptions of magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) devices, specifically the ITER tokamak. The discussion considers the development of the VMS FE representation, the structure of the stabilizing terms that deal with significant convective flows, the stabilization of the nearly incompressible response of the fluid flow, and the stabilization of the constraint that enforces the solenoidal involution on the magnetic field. The nonlinear discretized system is solved with scalable preconditioned Newton–Krylov iterative methods, which employs a multiphysics block preconditioning method based on approximate block factorizations and Schur complements. The study presents an evaluation of the VMS method on a 2D cartesian tearing mode instability, and illustrates the scalability of the solvers on MCF relevant problems. A set of results are also presented for longer time-scale stability and disruptions for the ITER tokamak. These include a vertical displacement event (VDE), and a (1,1) internal kink mode. Here, the formulation is demonstrated to be scalable and also reasonably robust with respect to the Lundquist number scaling.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1991

A fast upwind solver for the Euler equations on three-dimensional unstructured meshes

An upwind scheme is presented for solving the three-dimensional Euler equations on unstructured tetrahedral meshes. Spatial discretization is accomplished by a cell-centered finite-volume formulation using flux-difference splitting. Higher-order differences are formed by a novel cell reconstruction process which results in computational times per cell comparable to those of structured codes. The approach yields highly resolved solutions in regions of smooth flow while avoiding oscillations across shocks without explicit limiting. Solutions are advanced in time by a 3-stage Runge-Kutta time-stepping scheme with convergence accelerated to steady state by local time stepping and implicit residual smoothing. Solutions are presented for a range of configurations in the transonic speed regime to demonstrate code accuracy, speed, and robustness. The results include an assessment of grid sensitivity and convergence acceleration by mesh sequencing.

Frink, Neal T.↗

NASA NTRS2004

A Fast Upwind Solver for the Euler Equations on Three-Dimensional Unstructured Meshes

Frink, Neal T.↗