A unified mesh refinement method with applications to porous media flow

A unified algorithm is presented for the refinement of finite element meshes consisting of tensor product Lagrange elements in any number of space dimensions. The method leads to repeatedly refined n-irregular grids with associated constraint equations. Through an object-oriented implementation existing solvers can be extended to handle mesh refinements without modifying the implementation of the finite element equations. Various versions of the refinement procedure are investigated in a porous media flow problem involving singularities around wells. A domain decomposition-type finite element method is also proposed based on the refinement technique. This method is applied to flow in heterogeneous porous media. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of Three FE-FV Numerical Schemes for Single- and Two-Phase Flow Simulation of Fractured Porous Media

We benchmark a family of hybrid finite element–node-centered finite volume discretization methods (FEFV) for single- and two-phase flow/transport through porous media with discrete fracture representations. Special emphasis is placed on a new method we call DFEFVM in which the mesh is split along fracture–matrix interfaces so that discontinuities in concentration or saturation can evolve rather than being suppressed by nodal averaging of these variables. The main objective is to illustrate differences among three discretization schemes suitable for discrete fracture modeling: (a) FEFVM with volumetric finite elements for both fractures and porous rock matrix, (b) FEFVM with lower dimensional finite elements for fractures and volumetric finite elements for the matrix, and (c) DFEFVM with a mesh that is split along material discontinuities. Fracture discontinuities strongly influence single- and multi-phase fluid flow. Continuum methods, when used to model transport across such interfaces, smear out concentration/saturation. We show that the new DFEFVM addresses this problem producing significantly more accurate results. Sealed and open single fractures as well as a realistic fracture geometry are used to conduct tracer and water-flooding numerical experiments. The benchmarking results also reveal the limitations/mesh refinement requirements of FE node-centered FV hybrid methods. We show that the DFEFVM method produces more accurate results even for much coarser meshes.     

SOLUTION OF THE ADVECTION–DIFFUSION EQUATION USING A COMBINATION OF DISCONTINUOUS AND MIXED FINITE ELEMENTS

When transport is advection-dominated, classical numerical methods introduce excessive artificial diffusion and spurious oscillations. Special methods are required to overcome these phenomena. To solve the advection‒diffusion equation, a numerical method is developed using a discontinuous finite element method for the discretization of the advective terms. At the discontinuities of the approximate solution, numerical advective fluxes are calculated using one-dimensional approximate Riemann solvers. The method is stabilized with a multidimensional slope limiter which introduces small amounts of numerical diffusion when sharp concentration fronts occur. In addition, the diffusive term is discretized using a mixed hybrid finite element method. With this approach, numerical oscillations are completely avoided for a full range of cell Peclet numbers. The combination of discontinuous and mixed finite elements can be easily applied to 2D and 3D models using various types of elements in regular and irregular meshes. Numerical tests show good agreement with 1D and 2D analytical solutions. This approach is compared at the same time with two different numerical methods, a standard mixed finite method and a finite volume approach with high-resolution upwind terms. Regular and irregular meshes are used for the numerical tests to study the mesh effects on the numerical results. Our data show that in all cases this approach performs well. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种新的求解对流占优问题的自适应网格细化方法

在均匀网格上求解对流占优问题时,往往会产生数值震荡现象,因此需要局部加密网格来提高解的精度。针对对流占优问题,设计了一种新的自适应网格细化算法。该方法采用流线迎风SUPG(Petrov-Galerkin)格式求解对流占优问题,定义了网格尺寸并通过后验误差估计子修正来指导自适应网格细化,以泡泡型局部网格生成算法BLMG为网格生成器,通过模拟泡泡在区域中的运动得到了高质量的点集。与其他自适应网格细化方法相比,该方法可在同一框架内实现网格的细化和粗化,同时在所有细化层得到了高质量的网格。数值算例结果表明,该方法在求解对流占优问题时具有更高的数值精度和更好的收敛性。     

Mesh Adaptation for Stationary Flow Control

We consider local mesh adaptation for stationary flow control problems. The state equation is given by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with Neumann boundary control. As an example, the functional to be minimized is the drag coefficient of an immersed body. We use finite elements on locally refined meshes to discretize the first order necessary conditions based on the Lagrangian. An a posteriori error estimate is derived which is directly related to the control problem. It is used to successively enrich the finite element space until the computed solution satisfies prescribed accuracy requirements.     

Anisotropic mesh adaptation: towards user‐independent,mesh‐independent and solver‐independent CFD. Part I: general principles

The present paper is the lead article in a three‐part series on anisotropic mesh adaptation and its applications to structured and unstructured meshes. A flexible approach is proposed and tested on two‐dimensional, inviscid and viscous, finite volume and finite element flow solvers, over a wide range of speeds. The directional properties of an interpolation‐based error estimate, extracted from the Hessian of the solution, are used to control the size and orientation of mesh edges. The approach is encapsulated into an edge‐based anisotropic mesh optimization methodology (MOM), which uses a judicious sequence of four local operations: refinement, coarsening, edge swapping and point movement, to equi‐distribute the error estimate along all edges, without any recourse to remeshing. The mesh adaptation convergence of the MOM loop is carefully studied for a wide variety of test cases. The mesh optimization generic coupling of MOM with finite volume and finite element flow solvers is shown to yield the same final mesh no matter what the starting point is. It is also shown that on such optimized meshes, the need for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) stabilization artifices, such as upwinding or artificial viscosity, are drastically reduced, if not altogether eliminated, in most well‐posed formulations. These two conclusions can be considered significant steps towards mesh‐independent and solver‐independent CFD. The structure of the three‐part series is thus, 1, general principles; 2, methodology and applications to structured and unstructured grids; 3, applications to three‐dimensional flows. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three-dimensional adaptive finite element computations and applications to non-Newtonian fluids

An adaptive strategy for the finite element solution of three-dimensional viscous flow problems is defined and implemented. The solution strategy is based on an advancing front mesh generator making use of binary data structures for fast geometrical data handling. The error is estimated a posteriori with a residual-type bound. The error estimate is shown to exhibit proper convergence for tetrahedral elements. Its combination with the mesh generator and an interpolation scheme for unstructured meshes is shown to generate adaptive meshes and to reduce the solution cost for a given error level, as illustrated by the isothermal flow of a shear-thinning fluid.     

黏性边界层网格自动生成

高雷诺数黏性流动在壁面附近存在边界层,在计算模拟中自动生成可靠且有效的计算网格仍然是计算流体力学存在的瓶颈.三棱柱/四面体混合网格技术在一定程度上缓解了这个困难.然而,对于复杂外形的情况,在边界层内自动高效生成高质量的三棱柱单元仍然十分困难.常用的层推进法在凹凸区域及角点处生成的边界层网格单元质量较差,边界层网格最外层尺寸不均匀.针对这些问题,发展了一种黏性边界层网格自动生成方法,通过顶点周围边的二面角识别物面网格特征确定多生长方向,预估并调整生长高度处理相交情况.同时提出一种三维前沿尺寸调节方式,提高了边界层网格单元的正交性,保证了边界层网格与远场网格尺寸的光滑过渡.通过ONERA M6翼型以及带发动机短舱的DLR-F6翼身组合体等外形的网格生成实例及绕流数值模拟,将计算值与标准实验值进行对比,结果表明:该方法能够自动高效地生成满足数值计算需求的混合网格.     

Goal‐oriented space–time adaptivity in the finite element Galerkin method for the computation of nonstationary incompressible flow

This paper presents a general strategy for designing adaptive space–time finite element discretizations of the nonstationary Navier–Stokes equations. The underlying framework is that of the dual weighted residual method for goal‐oriented a posteriori error estimation and automatic mesh adaptation. In this approach, the error in the approximation of certain quantities of physical interest, such as the drag coefficient, is estimated in terms of local residuals of the computed solution multiplied by sensitivity factors, which are obtained by numerically solving an associated dual problem. In the resulting local error indicators, the effects of spatial and temporal discretization are separated, which allows for the simultaneous adjustment of time step and spatial mesh size. The efficiency of the proposed method for the construction of economical meshes and the quantitative assessment of the error is illustrated by several test examples. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient high order direct ALE ADER finite volume scheme with a posteriori limiting for hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics

In this paper, we present a new family of direct arbitrary–Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) finite volume schemes for the solution of hyperbolic balance laws on unstructured meshes in multiple space dimensions. The scheme is designed to be high‐order accurate both in space and time, and the mesh motion, which provides the new mesh configuration at the next time step, is taken into account in the final finite volume scheme that is based directly on a space‐time conservation formulation of the governing PDE system. To improve the computational efficiency of the algorithm, high order of accuracy in space is achieved using the a posteriori MOOD limiting strategy that allows the reconstruction procedure to be carried out with only one reconstruction stencil for any order of accuracy. We rely on an element‐local space‐time Galerkin finite element predictor on moving curved meshes to obtain a high‐order accurate one‐step time discretization, while the mesh velocity is computed by means of a suitable nodal solver algorithm that might also be supplemented with a local rezoning procedure to improve the mesh quality. Next, the old mesh configuration at time level tⁿ is connected to the new one at t^n + 1 by straight edges, hence providing unstructured space‐time control volumes, on the boundary of which the numerical flux has to be integrated. Here, we adopt a quadrature‐free integration, in which the space‐time boundaries of the control volumes are split into simplex sub‐elements that yield constant space‐time normal vectors and Jacobian matrices. In this way, the integrals over the simplex sub‐elements can be evaluated once and for all analytically during a preprocessing step. We apply the new high‐order direct ALE algorithm to the Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics (also referred to as hydrodynamics equations) as well as to the magnetohydrodynamics equations and we solve a set of classical test problems in two and three space dimensions. Numerical convergence rates are provided up to fifth order of accuracy in 2D and 3D for both hyperbolic systems considered in this paper. Finally, the efficiency of the new method is measured and carefully compared against the original formulation of the algorithm that makes use of a WENO reconstruction technique and Gaussian quadrature formulae for the flux integration: depending on the test problem, the new class of very efficient direct ALE schemes proposed in this paper can run up to ≈12 times faster in the 3D case. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一种新的并行自适应网格有限元算法

给出了一种新的适用于流体力学问题的并行自适应有限元算法。首先，基于初始稀网格上获得的事后误差估算值，应用反复谱对剖分方法对初网格进行划分，使各子域上总体误差近似相等，从而解决并行自适应计算中的负载平衡问题。然后在各处理器上独立地求解整体问题，并进行指定子域上的网格自适应处理。最后将各子域上的自适应网格组合成一个整体网格，应用基于粘接元技术的区域分裂法在该网格上获得最终解。文末给出了数值实验结果。     

An approach of dynamic mesh adaptation for simulating 3‐dimensional unsteady moving‐immersed‐boundary flows

In this paper, we present an approach of dynamic mesh adaptation for simulating complex 3‐dimensional incompressible moving‐boundary flows by immersed boundary methods. Tetrahedral meshes are adapted by a hierarchical refining/coarsening algorithm. Regular refinement is accomplished by dividing 1 tetrahedron into 8 subcells, and irregular refinement is only for eliminating the hanging points. Merging the 8 subcells obtained by regular refinement, the mesh is coarsened. With hierarchical refining/coarsening, mesh adaptivity can be achieved by adjusting the mesh only 1 time for each adaptation period. The level difference between 2 neighboring cells never exceeds 1, and the geometrical quality of mesh does not degrade as the level of adaptive mesh increases. A predictor‐corrector scheme is introduced to eliminate the phase lag between adapted mesh and unsteady solution. The error caused by each solution transferring from the old mesh to the new adapted one is small because most of the nodes on the 2 meshes are coincident. An immersed boundary method named local domain‐free discretization is employed to solve the flow equations. Several numerical experiments have been conducted for 3‐dimensional incompressible moving‐boundary flows. By using the present approach, the number of mesh nodes is reduced greatly while the accuracy of solution can be preserved.     

Dealing with extremely large deformation by Nearest-Nodes FEM with algorithm for updating element connectivity

In the recently developed Nearest-Nodes Finite Element Method (NN-FEM), elements are mainly used for numerical integration; while shape functions are constructed in a similar way as in meshless methods. Based on this strategy, NN-FEM inherits major merits from both the classical Finite Element Method and meshless methods. One of them is that NN-FEM is nearly not affected by element distortion. So NN-FEM is more efficient than the classical FEM on dealing with large deformation problems. Nevertheless, NN-FEM still has a requirement on finite element meshes, that is, elements in a mesh are required not to overlap or penetrate to each other, to avoid difficulty in numerical integration. To eliminate overlapped elements, NN-FEM is supplemented with an algorithm for updating element connectivity. With this supplement, NN-FEM is able to deal with extremely large deformation. In updating element connectivity, element nodes are kept not changed and all information associated with nodes are not touched. Therefore, there is no need to transfer solution data, and error introduced by solution transfer is avoided.     

基于XFEM与自适应网格的非均质材料裂纹扩展模拟

针对含有间断的非均匀材料的断裂问题，本文将虚节点多边形单元的形函数引入到扩展有限元（XFEM）中，提出了一种基于四叉树结构的动态网格细化方法，该方法可对间断面附近单元实现可调控的多层级细化，特别是对于裂纹扩展问题，可实现裂尖附近单元的动态网格细化与粗化。基于以上网格细化方法，本文提出了针对非均匀材质裂纹扩展问题的计算方法VP-XFEM。为验证算法的准确性与计算效率，针对含有孔洞及材料界面的断裂问题，本文给出了相应的算例。结果显示，与传统的一致性网格的XFEM相比，VP-XFEM能够明显改善计算精度与计算效率。     

Validation of adaptive unstructured hexahedral mesh computations of flow around a wind turbine airfoil

In this paper we investigate local adaptive refinement of unstructured hexahedral meshes for computations of the flow around the DU91 wind turbine airfoil. This is a 25% thick airfoil, found at the mid‐span section of a wind turbine blade. Wind turbine applications typically involve unsteady flows due to changes in the angle of attack and to unsteady flow separation at high angles of attack. In order to obtain reasonably accurate results for all these conditions one should use a mesh which is refined in many regions, which is not computationally efficient. Our solution is to apply an automated mesh adaptation technique. In this paper we test an adaptive refinement strategy developed for unstructured hexahedral meshes for steady flow conditions. The automated mesh adaptation is based on local flow sensors for pressure, velocity, density or a combination of these flow variables. This way the mesh is refined only in those regions necessary for high accuracy, retaining computational efficiency. A validation study is performed for two cases: attached flow at an angle of 6° and separated flow at 12°. The results obtained using our adaptive mesh strategy are compared with experimental data and with results obtained with an equally sized non‐adapted mesh. From these computations it can be concluded that for a given computing time, adapted meshes result in solutions closer to the experimental data compared to non‐adapted meshes for attached flow. Finally, we show results for unsteady computations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anisotropic mesh adaptation: towards user‐independent,mesh‐independent and solver‐independent CFD. Part III. Unstructured meshes

The present paper is the third article in a three‐part series on anisotropic mesh adaptation and its application to two‐ and three‐dimensional, structured and unstructured meshes. This third paper concerns the application of the full adaptation methodology to 2‐D unstructured meshes, including all four mesh modification strategies presented in Part I, i.e. refinement/coarsening, edge swapping and node movement. The mesh adaptation procedure is validated through a careful monitoring of a single adaptation step and of the solution–adaptation loop. Independence from the initial mesh and from the flow solver is illustrated. The efficiency of the overall methodology is investigated on relevant laminar and turbulent flow benchmarks. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conforming finite element computations applied to a spatially periodic,harmonic Navier-Stokes problem

In this paper computations in the two dimensional case of a harmonic Navier-Stokes problem with periodic boundary conditions are presented. This study of an incompressible viscous fluid leads to a non-symmetric linear problem (very low Reynolds number). Moreover unknown functions have complex values (monochromatic dynamic behaviour). Numerical treatment of the incompressibility condition is a generalization of the classical treatment of Stokes problem. A mixed formulation, where discrete pressure plays the role of Lagrange multipliers is used (Uzawa algorithm). Two conforming finite element methods are tested on different meshes. The second one uses a classical refinement in the shape function: the so-called bulb function. All computational tests show that the use of a bulb function on each element gives better results than refinement in the mesh without introducing too many degrees of freedom. Finally numerical results are compared to experimental data.     

An unfitted interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin method for incompressible Navier–Stokes two‐phase flow

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the solution of the immiscible and incompressible two‐phase flow problem based on the nonsymmetric interior penalty method is presented. Therefore, the incompressible Navier–Stokes equation is solved for a domain decomposed into two subdomains with different values of viscosity and density as well as a singular surface tension force. On the basis of a piecewise linear approximation of the interface, meshes for both phases are cut out of a structured mesh. The discontinuous finite elements are defined on the resulting Cartesian cut‐cell mesh and may therefore approximate the discontinuities of the pressure and the velocity derivatives across the interface with high accuracy. As the mesh resolves the interface, regularization of the density and viscosity jumps across the interface is not required. This preserves the local conservation property of the velocity field even in the vicinity of the interface and constitutes a significant advantage compared with standard methods that require regularization of these discontinuities and cannot represent the jumps and kinks in pressure and velocity. A powerful subtessellation algorithm is incorporated to allow the usage of standard time integrators (such as Crank–Nicholson) on the time‐dependent mesh. The presented discretization is applicable to both the two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional cases. The performance of our approach is demonstrated by application to a two‐dimensional benchmark problem, allowing for a thorough comparison with other numerical methods. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simplex space‐time meshes in two‐phase flow simulations

In this paper, we present the numerical solution of 2‐phase flow problems of engineering significance with a space‐time finite element method that allows for local temporal refinement. Arbitrary temporal refinement is applied to preselected regions of the mesh and is governed by a quantity that is part of the solution process, namely, the interface position in 2‐phase flow. Because of local effects such as surface tension, jumps in material properties, etc, the interface can in general be considered a region that requires high flexibility and high resolution, both in space and in time. The new method, which leads to tetrahedral (for 2D problems) and pentatope (for 3D problems) meshes, offers an efficient yet accurate approach to the underlying 2‐phase flow problems.     

基于能量等效原理的应变局部化分析:Ⅱ.有限元解法

以非局部塑性理论为基础,应用状态空间理论,通过局部和非局部两个状态空间的塑性能量耗散率等效原理,提出了一种求解应变局部化问题的新方法,以得到与网格无关的数值解.针对二维问题的屈服函数和流动法则导出了求解非局部内变量的一般方程,并提出了在有限元环境中求解应变局部化问题的应力更新算法.为了验证所提出的方法,对1个一维拉杆和3个二维平面应变加载试件进行了有限元分析.数值结果表明,塑性应变的分布和载荷-位移曲线都随着网格的变小而稳定地收敛,应变局部化区域的尺寸只与材料内尺度有关,而对有限元网格的大小不敏感.对于一维问题,当有限元网格尺寸减小时,数值解收敛于解析解.对于二维剪切带局部化问题,数值解随着网格尺寸的减小而稳定地向唯一解收敛.当网格尺寸减小时,剪切带的宽度和方向基本上没有变化.而且得到的塑性应变分布和网格变形是平滑的.这说明,所提方法可以克服经典连续介质力学模型导致的网格相关性问题,从而获得具有物理意义的客观解.此模型只需要单元之间的位移插值函数具有C~0连续性,因而容易在现有的有限元程序中实现而无需对程序作大的修改.