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Now showing 1 - 10 of 30
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    Stabilizing poor mass conservation in incompressible flow problems with large irrotational forcing and application to thermal convection
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2011) Galvin, Keith J.; Linke, Alexander; Rebholz, Leo G.; Wilson, Nicholas E.
    We consider the problem of poor mass conservation in mixed finite element algorithms for flow problems with large rotation-free forcing in the momentum equation. We provide analysis that suggests for such problems, obtaining accurate solutions necessitates either the use of pointwise divergence-free finite elements (such as Scott-Vogelius), or heavy grad-div stabilization of weakly divergence-free elements. The theory is demonstrated in numerical experiments for a benchmark natural convection problem, where large irrotational forcing occurs with high Rayleigh numbers.
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    A numerical method for mass conservative coupling between fluid flow and solute transport
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2010) Fuhrmann, Jürgen; Langmach, Hartmut; Linke, Alexander
    We present a new coupled discretization approach for species transport in an incompressible fluid. The Navier-Stokes equations for the flow are discretized by the divergence-free Scott-Vogelius element on barycentrically refined meshes guaranteeing LBB stability. The convection-diffusion equation for species transport is discretized by the Voronoi finite volume method. In accordance to the continuous setting, due to the exact integration of the normal component of the flow through the Voronoi surfaces, the species concentration fulfills discrete global and local maximum principles. Besides of the the numerical scheme itself, we present important aspects of its implementation. Further, for the case of homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, we give a convergence proof for the coupled scheme. We report results of the application of the scheme to the interpretation of limiting current measurements in an electrochemical flow cell with cylindrical shape.
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    On a reduced sparsity stabilization of grad-div type for incompressible flow problems
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2013) Linke, Alexander; Rebholz, Leo
    We introduce a new operator for stabilizing error that arises from the weak enforcement of mass conservation in finite element simulations of incompressible flow problems. We show this new operator has a similar positive effect on velocity error as the well-known and very successful grad-div stabilization operator, but the new operator is more attractive from an implementation standpoint because it yields a sparser block structure matrix. That is, while grad-div produces fully coupled block matrices (i.e. block-full), the matrices arising from the new operator are block-upper triangular in two dimensions, and in three dimensions the 2,1 and 3,1 blocks are empty. Moreover, the diagonal blocks of the new operators matrices are identical to those of grad-div. We provide error estimates and numerical examples for finite element simulations with the new operator, which reveals the significant improvement in accuracy it can provide. Solutions found using the new operator are also compared to those using usual grad-div stabilization, and in all cases, solutions are found to be very similar.
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    An analogue of grad-div stabilization in nonconforming methods for incompressible flows
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2017) Akbas, Mine; Linke, Alexander; Rebholz, Leo G.; Schroeder, Philipp W.
    Grad-div stabilization is a classical remedy in conforming mixed finite element methods for incompressible flow problems, for mitigating velocity errors that are sometimes called poor mass conservation. Such errors arise due to the relaxation of the divergence constraint in classical mixed methods, and are excited whenever the spacial discretization has to deal with comparably large and complicated pressures. In this contribution, an analogue of grad-div stabilization is presented for nonconforming flow discretizations of Discontinuous Galerkin or nonconforming finite element type. Here the key is the penalization of the jumps of the normal velocities over facets of the triangulation, which controls the measure-valued part of the distributional divergence of the discrete velocity solution. Furthermore, we characterize the limit for arbitrarily large penalization parameters, which shows that the proposed nonconforming Discontinuous Galerkin methods remain robust and accurate in this limit. Several numerical examples illustrate the theory and show their relevance for the simulation of practical, nontrivial flows.
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    A gradient-robust well-balanced scheme for the compressible isothermal Stokes problem
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2019) Akbas, Mine; Gallouët, Thierry; Gaßmann, Almut; Linke, Alexander; Merdon, Christian
    A novel notion for constructing a well-balanced scheme --- a gradient-robust scheme --- is introduced and a showcase application for a steady compressible, isothermal Stokes equations is presented. Gradient-robustness means that arbitrary gradient fields in the momentum balance are well-balanced by the discrete pressure gradient --- if there is enough mass in the system to compensate the force. The scheme is asymptotic-preserving in the sense that it degenerates for low Mach numbers to a recent inf-sup stable and pressure-robust discretization for the incompressible Stokes equations. The convergence of the coupled FEM-FVM scheme for the nonlinear, isothermal Stokes equations is proved by compactness arguments. Numerical examples illustrate the numerical analysis, and show that the novel approach can lead to a dramatically increased accuracy in nearly-hydrostatic low Mach number flows. Numerical examples also suggest that a straight-forward extension to barotropic situations with nonlinear equations of state is feasible.
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    On the divergence constraint in mixed finite element methods for incompressible flows
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2015) John, Volker; Linke, Alexander; Merdon, Christian; Neilan, Michael; Rebholz, Leo G.
    The divergence constraint of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is revisited in the mixed finite element framework. While many stable and convergent mixed elements have been developed throughout the past four decades, most classical methods relax the divergence constraint and only enforce the condition discretely. As a result, these methods introduce a pressure-dependent consistency error which can potentially pollute the computed velocity. These methods are not robust in the sense that a contribution from the right-hand side, which in fluences only the pressure in the continuous equations, impacts both velocity and pressure in the discrete equations. This paper reviews the theory and practical implications of relaxing the divergence constraint. Several approaches for improving the discrete mass balance or even for computing divergence-free solutions will be discussed: grad-div stabilization, higher order mixed methods derived on the basis of an exact de Rham complex, H(div)-conforming finite elements, and mixed methods with an appropriate reconstruction of the test functions. Numerical examples illustrate both the potential effects of using non-robust discretizations and the improvements obtained by utilizing pressure-robust discretizations.
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    An assessment of discretizations for convection-dominated convection-diffusion equations
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2011) Augustin, Matthias; Caiazzo, Alfonso; Fiebach, André; Fuhrmann, Jürgen; John, Volker; Linke, Alexander; Umla, Rudolf
    The performance of several numerical schemes for discretizing convection-dominated convection-diffusion equations will be investigated with respect to accuracy and efficiency. Accuracy is considered in measures which are of interest in applications. The study includes an exponentially fitted finite volume scheme, the Streamline-Upwind Petrov--Galerkin (SUPG) finite element method, a spurious oscillations at layers diminishing (SOLD) finite element method, a finite element method with continuous interior penalty (CIP) stabilization, a discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method, and a total variation diminishing finite element method (FEMTVD). A detailed assessment of the schemes based on the Hemker example will be presented.
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    Divergence-free reconstruction operators for pressure-robust Stokes discretizations with continuous pressure finite elements
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2016) Lederer, Philip L.; Linke, Alexander; Merdon, Christian; Schöberl, Joachim
    Classical inf-sup stable mixed finite elements for the incompressible (Navier-)Stokes equations are not pressure-robust, i.e., their velocity errors depend on the continuous pressure. However, a modification only in the right hand side of a Stokes discretization is able to reestablish pressure-robustness, as shown recently for several inf-sup stable Stokes elements with discontinuous discrete pressures. In this contribution, this idea is extended to low and high order Taylor-Hood and mini elements, which have continuous discrete pressures. For the modification of the right hand side a velocity reconstruction operator is constructed that maps discretely divergence-free test functions to exactly divergence-free ones. The reconstruction is based on local H (div)-conforming flux equilibration on vertex patches, and fulfills certain orthogonality properties to provide consistency and optimal a-priori error estimates. Numerical examples for the incompressible Stokes and Navier-Stokes equations confirm that the new pressure-robust Taylor-Hood and mini elements converge with optimal order and outperform significantly the classical versions of those elements when the continuous pressure is comparably large.
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    On the parameter choice in grad-div stabilization for incompressible flow problems
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2012) Jenkins, Eleanor W.; John, Volker; Linke, Alexander; Rebholz, Leo G.
    Grad-div stabilization has been proved to be a very useful tool in discretizations of incompressible flow problems. Standard error analysis for inf-sup stable conforming pairs of finite element spaces predicts that the stabilization parameter should be optimally chosen to be O(1). This paper revisits this choice for the Stokes equations on the basis of minimizing the H1( ) error of the velocity and the L2( ) error of the pressure. It turns out, by applying a refined error analysis, that the optimal parameter choice is more subtle than known so far in the literature. It depends on the used norm, the solution, the family of finite element spaces, and the type of mesh. Depending on the situation, the optimal stabilization parameter might range from being very small to very large. The analytic results are supported by numerical examples.
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    MAC schemes on triangular Delaunay meshes
    (Berlin : Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik, 2011) Eymard, Robert; Fuhrmann, Jürgen; Linke, Alexander
    We study two classical generalized MAC schemes on unstructured triangular Delaunay meshes for the incompressible Stokes and Navier-Stokes equations and prove their convergence for the first time. These generalizations use the duality between Voronoi and triangles of Delaunay meshes, in order to construct two staggered discretization schemes. Both schemes are especially interesting, since compatible finite volume discretizations for coupled convection-diffusion equations can be constructed which preserve discrete maximum principles. In the first scheme, called tangential velocity scheme, the pressures are defined at the vertices of the mesh, and the discrete velocities are tangential to the edges of the triangles. In the second scheme, called normal velocity scheme, the pressures are defined in the triangles, and the discrete velocities are normal to the edges of the triangles. For both schemes, we prove the convergence in $L^2$ for the velocities and the discrete rotations of the velocities for the Stokes and the Navier-Stokes problem. Further, for the normal velocity scheme, we also prove the strong convergence of the pressure in $L^2$. Linear and nonlinear numerical examples illustrate the theoretical predictions.