arXiv subjects

Chunlei Liang

Publications and source records attributed to Chunlei Liang.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Simulations of Global Solar Convection with a Fully Compressible CHORUS++ Code

Fluid-dynamics simulations of global solar convection are a critically important tool for assessing the dynamics of the solar interior. However, simulation studies with a fully compressible hydrodynamics code are not yet common. The CHORUS++ code solves robustly and efficiently the fully compressible hydrodynamics equations using a compact local spectral method and semi-unstructured grid system. Using the CHORUS++ code, we simulate the solar interior plasma flows from 0.7 to 0.99 of the solar radius using the values of the solar total luminosity and the sidereal rotation rate. In this paper, we analyze the simulated global flow structures before the statistically stable state to assess the compressibility of the plasma flows obtained with the fully compressible hydrodynamic code. The divergence of mass flux with the compressible model is overall small in the examined state before reaching the equilibrium state of the convection, which implies that the differences between the fully compressible flows and those obtained with the anelastic, incompressible, or linear-equation models are small in the simulated inner part of the convection zone. Although a fully-relaxed stationary convection has not been achieved yet in the examined state, the model qualitatively reproduces the solar-type differential rotation. Simulations for longer periods are needed to achieve the system relaxation state. This work, assessing the early phase of the hydrodynamic evolution of solar convection, is our first step toward a better understanding of the nature of solar convection and the dynamo processes.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Flow-Driven Rotor Simulations of Seyi-Chunlei Ducted Turbine

This paper proposes an improved Clarkson Ducted Wind Turbine (DWT) design using a new diffuser based on the Selig S1223 airfoil at an angle of attack (AoA) of 20 degrees and a smaller tip clearance. This proposed design is hereby named Selig20 Clarkson Ducted Turbine or Seyi-Chunlei Ducted Turbine (SCDT) compared to the original Clarkson Ducted Wind Turbine (CDWT). In both SCDT and CDWT configurations, the rotor is placed a distance behind the throat of the duct. For in-depth analysis, we employ a flow-driven-rotor (FDR) model of a commercial CFD package, Simerics-MP+, based on unstructured-grid finite-volume solutions of Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations for the flow field that are two-way fully coupled with a dynamic solution of the rigid-body rotation of the turbine rotor. The FDR model successfully predicts the optimal thrust coefficient, whereas the prescribed rotation model fails to do so. Although the optimal Cp predicted by the FDR model is fairly close to the prediction from the prescribed motion model, FDR is generally more accurate in predicting underperformance under ambient wind conditions away from the optimal tip speed ratio. FDR offers a new path to simulate ducted wind turbines in ambient wind conditions. The Seyi-Chunlei Ducted Turbine is confirmed to have a Cpt peak approximately 7% higher than that of the Clarkson DWT. SCDT also has a wider range of optimal tip speed ratios, enabling it to harvest more wind energy under ambient conditions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Fully Compressible Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Solar Convection Zones with CHORUS++

The objective of this study is to develop a fully compressible magnetohydrodynamic solver for fast simulations of the global dynamo of the Sun using unstructured grids and GPUs. Accurate modeling of the Sun's convective layers is vital to predicting the Sun's behavior, including the solar dynamo and sunspot cycles. Currently, there are many efficient codes capable of conducting these large simulations; however, many assume an anealastic density distribution. The anelastic assumption is capable of producing accurate results for low mach numbers; however, it fails in regions with a higher mach number and a fully compressible flow must be considered. To avoid these issues, Wang et al. [1] created a Compressible High-ORder Unstructured Spectral difference (CHORUS) code for simulating fluid dynamics inside stars and planets. CHORUS++ augmented the CHORUS code to adopt a higher degree of polynomials by using cubed-sphere meshing and transfinite mapping to perform simulations on unstructured grids [2]. Recently, CHORUS++ was further developed for parallel magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) solutions on GPUs at Clarkson University. In this study the solar benchmark problems presented by Chen et al. [2] are extended to unsteady solar dynamo problems, with two different density scale heights. The CHORUS-MHD code is further accelerated by multiple GPUs and used to successfully solve these solar dynamo benchmark problems. [1] Wang, J., Liang, C., and Miesch, M. S., "A Compressible High-Order Unstructured Spectral Difference Code for Stratified Convection in Rotating Spherical Shells," Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 290, 2015, pp. 90-111. [2] Chen, K., Liang, C., and Wan, M., "Arbitrarily high-order accurate simulations of compressible rotationally constrained convection using a transfinite mapping on cubed-sphere grids," Physics of Fluids, Vol. 35, 2023, p. 086120.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

High-Order Large-Eddy Simulations of a Wind Turbine in Ducted and Open-Rotor Configurations

High-order large-eddy simulations are performed to study the performance and flow field of a ducted wind turbine operating at different tip speed ratios. To evaluate the effects of the duct, simulations with the same tip speed ratios are also performed on the corresponding open-rotor turbine. It is found that the ducted turbine consistently obtains higher power outputs than the open-rotor counterpart, and the duct itself enhances flow turbulence and blade trailing-edge vortices but weakens tip and hub vortices. Flow bifurcation is observed at the largest tip speed ratio and is identified to be caused by blade blockage effects. Comparative simulations are also performed on both turbines under different yaw angles. It is noticed that the ducted configuration is insensitive to small yaw angles and maintains higher power outputs than the open-rotor configuration at all yaw angles. Moreover, it is observed that the wakes of both configurations recover more quickly as the yaw angle increases.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

High-Order Implicit Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow over a Marine Propeller

We report the first high-order eddy-resolving simulation of flow over a marine propeller using a recently developed high-order sliding-mesh method. This method employs the flux reconstruction framework and a new dynamic curved mortar approach to handle the complex rotating geometries. For a wide range of working conditions, it is validated to predict the loads very accurately against experiments. The method's low-dissipation characteristic has allowed the capturing of a broad spectrum of turbulence structures for very long distances even on a very coarse grid. Comparison with a previous low-order simulation is also carried out to show the low-dissipation advantage of the present simulations. From detailed load analysis, the major loads and their distributions and time and frequency scales are identified. Visualizations of the instantaneous, phase-averaged, and time-averaged flow fields have revealed the processes of tip vortex formation, major vortex evolutions, and flow instability developments at different working conditions. The effects of different fairwaters on the propeller's overall performance are also quantitatively assessed.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

High-Order Large-Eddy Simulations of a Ducted Wind Turbine

A high-order flux reconstruction method coupled with a high-order sliding mesh method is applied to analyze the performance of a ducted wind turbine at a Reynolds number of $1.25\times 10^6$. To investigate the impacts of the duct, axial flow simulations are also performed for the corresponding open-rotor turbine. It is shown that the ducted turbine has higher thrust and power outputs than the open rotor. Vorticity and velocity fields of two configurations are also visualized and analyzed to show the differences. To evaluate the effects of yawed flows, simulations are carried out for both turbines under five different yaw angles $γ=0^{\circ}, \pm15^{\circ}, \pm 30^{\circ}$. The results reveal that the ducted wind turbine has higher power outputs than the open counterpart at all tested yaw angles.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

A Conservative High-Order Method Utilizing Dynamic Transfinite Mortar Elements for Flow Simulation on Curved Sliding Meshes

We present a high-order method for flow simulation on unstructured curved nonconforming sliding meshes. This method utilizes dynamic transfinite mortar elements to exchange flow information between the two sides of a sliding interface. The method is arbitrarily high-order accurate in space, provably conservative, and satisfies outflow condition. Moreover, it retains the accuracy of a time marching scheme, and thus allows substantial reduction of rotational speed effects when equipped with a high-order temporal scheme. The method's capability of simultaneously handling multiple rotational objects is also explored. Details on the implementation are provided as well.

math.NA↗

arXiv2020

An open boundary condition for high-order solutions of magnetohydrodynamics on unstructured grids

In this paper a characteristics-based open boundary condition (CBC) is proposed for the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) system of equations. The algorithm is carefully designed and implemented in the context of a high-order flux reconstruction (FR) scheme under the Generalized Lagrange Multiplier (GLM)-MHD system of equations. It is implemented by adding the contribution of the characteristic equation directly to the corrected flux term in the FR scheme dispensing with solving time-dependent characteristic equations along boundary faces. The CBC method is shown to be more accurate and robust than commonly used zero normal derivative (ZND) and approximate Riemann solver boundary conditions (ARBC) in solving 1D, 2D, and 3D test problems. The CBC method is successfully applied to simulate challenging problems of magnetic reconnection for which other options failed to get stable results over long-period time integration.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2016

Convection in Oblate Solar-Type Stars

We present the first global 3D simulations of thermal convection in the oblate envelopes of rapidly-rotating solar-type stars. This has been achieved by exploiting the capabilities of the new Compressible High-ORder Unstructured Spectral difference (CHORUS) code. We consider rotation rates up to 85\% of the critical (breakup) rotation rate, which yields an equatorial radius that is up to 17\% larger than the polar radius. This substantial oblateness enhances the disparity between polar and equatorial modes of convection. We find that the convection redistributes the heat flux emitted from the outer surface, leading to an enhancement of the heat flux in the polar and equatorial regions. This finding implies that lower-mass stars with convective envelopes may not have darker equators as predicted by classical gravity darkening arguments. The vigorous high-latitude convection also establishes elongated axisymmetric circulation cells and zonal jets in the polar regions. Though the overall amplitude of the surface differential rotation, $ΔΩ$, is insensitive to the oblateness, the oblateness does limit the fractional kinetic energy contained in the differential rotation to no more than 61\%. Furthermore, we argue that this level of differential rotation is not enough to have a significant impact on the oblateness of the star.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

A Simple, Efficient, High-order Accurate Sliding-Mesh Interface Approach to the Spectral Difference Method on Coupled Rotating and Stationary Domains

This paper presents a simple, efficient, and high-order accurate sliding-mesh interface approach to the spectral difference (SD) method. We demonstrate the approach by solving the two-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations on quadrilateral grids. This approach is an extension of the straight mortar method originally designed for stationary domains by Kopriva, it employs curved dynamic mortars on sliding-mesh interfaces to couple rotating and stationary domains. On the nonconforming sliding-mesh interfaces, the related variables are first projected from cell faces to mortars to compute common fluxes, and then the common fluxes are projected back from the mortars to the cell faces to ensure conservation. To verify the spatial order of accuracy of the sliding-mesh spectral difference (SSD) method, both inviscid and viscous flow cases are tested. It is shown that the SSD method preserves the high-order accuracy of the SD method. Meanwhile, the SSD method is found to be very efficient in terms of computational cost. This novel sliding-mesh interface method is very suitable for parallel processing with domain decomposition. It can be applied to a wide range of problems, such as the aerodynamics of rotorcraft, wind turbines, and oscillating wing wind power generators, etc.

math.NA↗

arXiv2015

A Compressible High-Order Unstructured Spectral Difference Code for Stratified Convection in Rotating Spherical Shells

We present a novel and powerful Compressible High-ORder Unstructured Spectral-difference (CHORUS) code for simulating thermal convection and related fluid dynamics in the interiors of stars and planets. The computational geometries are treated as rotating spherical shells filled with stratified gas. The hydrodynamic equations are discretized by a robust and efficient high-order Spectral Difference Method (SDM) on unstructured meshes. The computational stencil of the spectral difference method is compact and advantageous for parallel processing. CHORUS demonstrates excellent parallel performance for all test cases reported in this paper, scaling up to 12,000 cores on the Yellowstone High-Performance Computing cluster at NCAR. The code is verified by defining two benchmark cases for global convection in Jupiter and the Sun. CHORUS results are compared with results from the ASH code and good agreement is found. The CHORUS code creates new opportunities for simulating such varied phenomena as multi-scale solar convection, core convection, and convection in rapidly-rotating, oblate stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

Turbulent convection in the Sun: modeling in unstructured meshes

We adopted an unstructured hydrodynamical solver CharLES to the problem of global convection in the Sun. With the aim to investigate the properties of solar turbulent convection and reproduce differential rotation pattern. We performed simulations in two spherical shells, with 1.3 and 10 million cells. In the first, coarse mesh, the solution does not reproduce realistic convection, and is dominated by numerical effects. In the second mesh, thermal conduction leads to cooling of bottom layers, that could not be compensated by solar irradiance. More simulations in the 10M cells mesh should be performed to investigate the influence of transport coefficients and numerical effects. Our estimate of the code performance suggests, that realistic simulations in even finer grids could be performed for reasonable computational cost.

astro-ph.SR↗