arXiv subjects

Artur Palha

Publications and source records attributed to Artur Palha.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Decoupled structure-preserving discretization of incompressible MHD equations with general boundary conditions

In the framework of a mixed finite element method, a structure-preserving formulation for incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations with general boundary conditions is proposed. A leapfrog-type temporal scheme fully decouples the fluid part from the Maxwell part by means of staggered discrete time sequences and, in doing so, partially linearizes the system. Conservation and dissipation properties of the formulation before and after the decoupling are analyzed. We demonstrate optimal spatial and second-order temporal accuracy, as well as conservation and dissipation properties, of the proposed method using manufactured solutions, and apply it to the benchmark Orszag-Tang and lid-driven cavity cases.

math.NA↗

arXiv2023

A MEEVC discretization for two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with general boundary conditions

In this work, we introduce a mass, energy, enstrophy and vorticity conserving (MEEVC) mixed finite element discretization for two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations as an alternative to the original MEEVC scheme proposed in [A. Palha and M. Gerritsma, J. Comput. Phys., 2017]. The present method can incorporate no-slip boundary conditions. Conservation properties are proven. Supportive numerical experiments with both exact and inexact quadrature are provided.

math.NA↗

arXiv2021

A mass-, kinetic energy- and helicity-conserving mimetic dual-field discretization for three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, part I: Periodic domains

We introduce a mimetic dual-field discretization which conserves mass, kinetic energy and helicity for three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The discretization makes use of a conservative dual-field mixed weak formulation where two evolution equations of velocity are employed and dual representations of the solution are sought for each variable. A temporal discretization, which staggers the evolution equations and handles the nonlinearity such that the resulting discrete algebraic systems are linear and decoupled, is constructed. The spatial discretization is mimetic in the sense that the finite dimensional function spaces form a discrete de Rham complex. Conservation of mass, kinetic energy and helicity in the absence of dissipative terms is proven at the discrete level. Proper dissipation rates of kinetic energy and helicity in the viscous case is also proven. Numerical tests supporting the method are provided.

math.NA↗

arXiv2021

Exact spatial and temporal balance of energy exchanges within a horizontally explicit/vertically implicit non-hydrostatic atmosphere

A new horizontally explicit/vertically implicit (HEVI) time splitting scheme for atmospheric modelling is introduced, for which the horizontal divergence terms are applied within the implicit vertical substep. The new HEVI scheme is implemented in conjunction with a mixed mimetic spectral element spatial discretisation and semi-implicit vertical time stepping scheme that both preserve the skew-symmetric structure of the non-canonical Hamiltonian form of the equations of motion. Within this context the new HEVI scheme allows for the exact balance of all energetic exchanges in space and time. However since the choice of horizontal fluxes for which this balance is satisfied is not consistent with the horizontal velocity at the end of the time level the scheme still admits a temporal energy conservation error. Linearised eigenvalue analysis shows that similar to a fully implicit method, the new HEVI scheme is neutrally stable for all buoyancy modes, and unlike a second order trapezoidal HEVI scheme is stable for all acoustic modes below a certain horizontal CFL number. The scheme is validated against standard test cases for both planetary and nonhydrostatic regimes. For the planetary scale baroclinic instability test case, the new formulation exhibits a secondary oscillation in the potential to kinetic energy power exchanges, with a temporal frequency approximately four times that exhibited by a horizontally third order, vertically second order trapezoidal scheme. For the nonhydrostatic test case, the vertical upwinding of the potential temperature diagnostic equation is shown to reduce spurious oscillations without altering the energetics of the solution, since this upwinding is performed in an energetically consistent manner. For this test case, which is configured on an affine geometry, the exact balance of energy exchanges allows the model to run stably without any form of dissipation.

math.NA↗

arXiv2020

A conservative, physically compatible, dual-field discretization for turbidity currents: with application to the lock-exchange problem

In this work we present a structure preserving discretization for turbidity currents based on a mass-, energy-, enstrophy-, and vorticity-conserving formulation for 2D incompressible flows. This discretization exploits a dual-field formulation for the time evolution of the velocity and vorticity fields together with the transport equation for the particles. Due to its staggered time integration the resulting system of equations is quasi-linear, eliminating the need to solve for a fully nonlinear system of equations. It is shown that this discretization preserves the energy balance equation up to a bounded residual due to the staggering in time of the velocity and vorticity. This leads to a numerical scheme that does not introduce artificial energy dissipation. A comparison with literature results is presented showing that this approach can retrieve the dynamics of the system with a much smaller number of degrees of freedom.

math.NA↗

arXiv2020

Construction and application of algebraic dual polynomial representations for finite element methods on quadrilateral and hexahedral meshes

Given a sequence of finite element spaces which form a de Rham sequence, we will construct a dual representation of these spaces with associated differential operators which connect these spaces such that they also form a de Rham sequence. The matrix which converts primal representations to dual representations -- the Hodge matrix -- is the mass or Gram matrix. It will be shown that a bilinear form of a primal and a dual representation is equal to the vector inner product of the expansion coefficients (degrees of freedom) of both representations. This leads to very sparse system matrices, even for high order methods. The derivative of dual representations will be defined. Vector operations, grad, curl and div, for primal and dual representations are both topological and do not depend on the metric, i.e. the size and shape of the mesh or the order of the numerical method. Derivatives are evaluated by applying sparse incidence and inclusion matrices to the expansion coefficients of the representations. As illustration of the use of dual representations, the method will be applied to i) a mixed formulation for the Poisson problem in 3D, ii) it will be shown that this approach allows one to preserve the equivalence between Dirichlet and Neumann problems in the finite dimensional setting and, iii) the method will be applied to the approximation of grad-div eigenvalue problem on affine and non-affine meshes.

math.NA↗

arXiv2019

A conservative hybrid method for Darcy flow

We present a hybrid mimetic spectral element formulation for Darcy flow. The discrete representations for 1) conservation of mass, and 2) inter-element continuity, are topological relations that lead to sparse matrix systems. These constraints are independent of the element size and shape, and thus invariant under mesh transformations. The resultant algebraic system is extremely sparse even for high degree polynomial basis. Furthermore, the system can be efficiently assembled and solved for each element separately.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

A Mixed Mimetic Spectral Element Model of the Rotating Shallow Water Equations on the Cubed Sphere

In a previous article [J. Comp. Phys. $\mathbf{357}$ (2018) 282-304], the mixed mimetic spectral element method was used to solve the rotating shallow water equations in an idealized geometry. Here the method is extended to a smoothly varying, non-affine, cubed sphere geometry. The differential operators are encoded topologically via incidence matrices due to the use of spectral element edge functions to construct tensor product solution spaces in $H(\mathrm{rot})$, $H(\mathrm{div})$ and $L_2$. These incidence matrices commute with respect to the metric terms in order to ensure that the mimetic properties are preserved independent of the geometry. This ensures conservation of mass, vorticity and energy for the rotating shallow water equations using inexact quadrature on the cubed sphere. The spectral convergence of errors are similarly preserved on the cubed sphere, with the generalized Piola transformation used to construct the metric terms for the physical field quantities.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

Algebraic dual polynomials for the equivalence of curl-curl problems

In this paper we will consider two curl-curl equation in two dimensions. One curl-curl problem for a scalar quantity $F$ and one problem for a vector field $\bf{E}$. For Dirichlet boundary conditions $\bf{n} \times \bf{E} =$ $ \hat{E}_{\dashv}$ on $\bf{E}$ and Neumann boundary conditions $\bf{n} \times \mbox{curl}$ $F=\hat{E}_{\dashv}$, we expect the solutions to satisfy $\bf{E}=\mbox{curl}$ $F$. When we use algebraic dual polynomial representations, these identities continue to hold at the discrete level. Equivalence will be proved and illustrated with a computational example.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

Mimetic Spectral Element Method for Anisotropic Diffusion

This paper addresses the topological structure of steady, anisotropic, inhomogeneous diffusion problems. Two discrete formulations: a) mixed and b) direct formulations are discussed. Differential operators are represented by sparse incidence matrices, while weighted mass matrices play the role of metric-dependent Hodge matrices. The resulting mixed formulations are point-wise divergence-free if the right hand side function f = 0. The method is inf-sup stable and displays optimal convergence on orthogonal and non-affine grids.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

Discrete conservation properties for shallow water flows using mixed mimetic spectral elements

A mixed mimetic spectral element method is applied to solve the rotating shallow water equations. The mixed method uses the recently developed spectral element histopolation functions, which exactly satisfy the fundamental theorem of calculus with respect to the standard Lagrange basis functions in one dimension. These are used to construct tensor product solution spaces which satisfy the generalized Stokes theorem, as well as the annihilation of the gradient operator by the curl and the curl by the divergence. This allows for the exact conservation of first order moments (mass, vorticity), as well as quadratic moments (energy, potential enstrophy), subject to the truncation error of the time stepping scheme. The continuity equation is solved in the strong form, such that mass conservation holds point wise, while the momentum equation is solved in the weak form such that vorticity is globally conserved. While mass, vorticity and energy conservation hold for any quadrature rule, potential enstrophy conservation is dependent on exact spatial integration. The method possesses a weak form statement of geostrophic balance due to the compatible nature of the solution spaces and arbitrarily high order spatial error convergence.

math.NA↗

arXiv2016

A mimetic spectral element solver for the Grad-Shafranov equation

In this work we present a robust and accurate arbitrary order solver for the fixed-boundary plasma equilibria in toroidally axisymmetric geometries. To achieve this we apply the mimetic spectral element formulation presented in [56] to the solution of the Grad-Shafranov equation. This approach combines a finite volume discretization with the mixed finite element method. In this way the discrete differential operators ($\nabla$, $\nabla\times$, $\nabla\cdot$) can be represented exactly and metric and all approximation errors are present in the constitutive relations. The result of this formulation is an arbitrary order method even on highly curved meshes. Additionally, the integral of the \reviewerone{toroidal current $J_ϕ$} is exactly equal to the boundary integral of the poloidal field over the plasma boundary. This property can play an important role in the coupling between equilibrium and transport solvers. The proposed solver is tested on a varied set of plasma cross-sections (smooth and with an X-point) and also for a wide range of pressure and \reviewertwo{toroidal magnetic flux profiles}. Equilibria accurate up to machine precision are obtained. Optimal algebraic convergence rates of order $(p+1)$ and geometric convergence rates are shown for Soloviev solutions (including high Shafranov shifts), field-reversed configuration (FRC) solutions and spheromak analytical solutions. The robustness of the method is demonstrated for non-linear test cases, in particular on an equilibrium solution with a pressure pedestal.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

A mass, energy, enstrophy and vorticity conserving (MEEVC) mimetic spectral element discretization for the 2D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

In this work we present a mimetic spectral element discretization for the 2D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations that in the limit of vanishing dissipation exactly preserves mass, kinetic energy, enstrophy and total vorticity on unstructured grids. The essential ingredients to achieve this are: (i) a velocity-vorticity formulation in rotational form, (ii) a sequence of function spaces capable of exactly satisfying the divergence free nature of the velocity field, and (iii) a conserving time integrator. Proofs for the exact discrete conservation properties are presented together with numerical test cases on highly irregular grids.

math.NA↗

arXiv2015

A hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian flow solver

Currently, Eulerian flow solvers are very efficient in accurately resolving flow structures near solid boundaries. On the other hand, they tend to be diffusive and to dampen high-intensity vortical structures after a short distance away from solid boundaries. The use of high order methods and fine grids, although alleviating this problem, gives rise to large systems of equations that are expensive to solve. Lagrangian solvers, as the regularized vortex particle method, have shown to eliminate (in practice) the diffusion in the wake. As a drawback, the modelling of solid boundaries is less accurate, more complex and costly than with Eulerian solvers (due to the isotropy of its computational elements). Given the drawbacks and advantages of both Eulerian and Lagrangian solvers the combination of both methods, giving rise to a hybrid solver, is advantageous. The main idea behind the hybrid solver presented is the following. In a region close to solid boundaries the flow is solved with an Eulerian solver, where the full Navier-Stokes equations are solved (possibly with an arbitrary turbulence model or DNS, the limitations being the computational power and the physical properties of the flow), outside of that region the flow is solved with a vortex particle method. In this work we present this hybrid scheme and verify it numerically on known 2D benchmark cases: dipole flow, flow around a cylinder and flow around a stalled airfoil. The success in modelling these flow conditions presents this hybrid approach as a promising alternative, bridging the gap between highly resolved and computationally intensive Eulerian CFD simulations and fast but less resolved Lagrangian simulations.

math.NA↗

arXiv2015

Mimetic spectral element method for Hamiltonian systems

There is a growing interest in the conservation of invariants when numerically solving a system of ordinary differential equations. Methods that exactly preserve these quantities in time are known as geometric integrators. In this paper we apply the recently developed mimetic framework to the solution of a system of first order ordinary differential equations. Depending on the discrete Hodge-* employed, two classes of arbitrary order time integrators are derived. It is shown that the one based on a canonical Hodge-* results in a symplectic integrator, whereas the one based on a Galerkin Hodge-* results in an energy preserving integrator. A set of numerical tests confirms these theoretical results.

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

Mixed Mimetic Spectral Element method applied to Darcy's problem

We present a discretization for Darcy's problem using the recently developed Mimetic Spectral Element Method. The gist lies in the exact discrete representation of integral relations. In this paper, an anisotropic flow through a porous medium is considered and a discretization of a full permeability tensor is presented. The performance of the method is evaluated on standard test problems, converging at the same rate as the best possible approximation.

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

Mimetic Spectral Element advection

We present a discretization of the linear advection of differential forms on bounded domains. The framework previously established is extended to incorporate the Lie derivative, $\mathcal L$, by means of Cartan's homotopy formula. The method is based on a physics-compatible discretization with spectral accuracy . It will be shown that the derived scheme has spectral convergence with local mass conservation. Artificial dispersion depends on the order of time integration.

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

Physics-compatible discretization techniques on single and dual grids, with application to the Poisson equation of volume forms

This paper introduces the basic concepts for physics-compatible discretization techniques. The paper gives a clear distinction between vectors and forms. Based on the difference between forms and pseudo-forms and the $\star$-operator which switches between the two, a dual grid description and a single grid description are presented. The dual grid method resembles a staggered finite volume method, whereas the single grid approach shows a strong resemblance with a finite element method. Both approaches are compared for the Poisson equation for volume forms.

math.NA↗