The shapes of vesicles formed by lipid bilayers with phase separation are governed by a bending energy with phase dependent material parameters together with a line energy associated with the phase interfaces. We present a numerical method to approximate solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations featuring triangulated surfaces, isoparametric quadratic surface finite elements and the phase field approach for the phase separation. Furthermore, the method involves an iterative solution scheme that is based on a relaxation dynamics coupling a geometric evolution equation for the membrane surface with a surface Allen-Cahn equation. Remeshing and grid adaptivity are discussed, and in various simulations the influence of several physical parameters is investigated.

A discontinuous Galerkin method for the ideal 5 moment two-fluid plasma system is presented. The method uses a second or third order discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization and a third order TVD Runge-Kutta time stepping scheme. The method is benchmarked against an analytic solution of a dispersive electron acoustic square pulse as well as the two-fluid electromagnetic shock [1] and existing numerical solutions to the GEM challenge magnetic reconnection problem [2]. The algorithm can be generalized to arbitrary geometries and three dimensions. An approach to maintaining small gauge errors based on error propagation is suggested.

In this paper, we derive a multi-symplectic Fourier pseudospectral scheme for the Kawahara equation with special attention to the relationship between the spectral differentiation matrix and discrete Fourier transform. The relationship is crucial for implementing the scheme efficiently. By using the relationship, we can apply the Fast Fourier transform to solve the Kawahara equation. The effectiveness of the proposed methods will be demonstrated by a number of numerical examples. The numerical results also confirm that the global energy and momentum are well preserved.

This paper presents limits for stability of projection type schemes when using high order pressure-velocity pairs of same degree. Two high order h/p variational methods encompassing continuous and discontinuous Galerkin formulations are used to explain previously observed lower limits on the time step for projection type schemes to be stable [18], when h- or p-refinement strategies are considered. In addition, the analysis included in this work shows that these stability limits do not depend only on the time step but on the product of the latter and the kinematic viscosity, which is of particular importance in the study of high Reynolds number flows. We show that high order methods prove advantageous in stabilising the simulations when small time steps and low kinematic viscosities are used.

Drawing upon this analysis, we demonstrate how the effects of this instability can be reduced in the discontinuous scheme by introducing a stabilisation term into the global system. Finally, we show that these lower limits are compatible with Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) type restrictions, given that a sufficiently high polynomial order or a mall enough mesh spacing is selected.

The stochastic collocation method using sparse grids has become a popular choice for performing stochastic computations in high dimensional (random) parameter space. In addition to providing highly accurate stochastic solutions, the sparse grid collocation results naturally contain sensitivity information with respect to the input random parameters. In this paper, we use the sparse grid interpolation and cubature methods of Smolyak together with combinatorial analysis to give a computationally efficient method for computing the global sensitivity values of Sobol’. This method allows for approximation of all main effect and total effect values from evaluation of f on a single set of sparse grids. We discuss convergence of this method, apply it to several test cases and compare to existing methods. As a result which may be of independent interest, we recover an explicit formula for evaluating a Lagrange basis interpolating polynomial associated with the Chebyshev extrema. This allows one to manipulate the sparse grid collocation results in a highly efficient manner.

In this paper we present a generalized lattice Boltzmann based approach for sliding-mesh local reference frame. This scheme exactly conserves hydrodynamic fluxes across local reference frame interface. The accuracy and robustness of our scheme are demonstrated by benchmark validations.

We investigate several robust preconditioners for solving the saddle-point linear systems that arise from spatial discretization of unsteady and steady variable-coefficient Stokes equations on a uniform staggered grid. Building on the success of using the classical projection method as a preconditioner for the coupled velocity pressure system [B. E. Griffith, J. Comp. Phys., 228 (2009), pp. 7565-7595], as well; established techniques for steady and unsteady Stokes flow in the finite-element literature, we construct preconditioners that employ independent generalized Helmholtz and Poisson solvers for the velocity and pressure subproblems. We demonstrate that only a single cycle of a standard geometric multigrid algorithm serves as an effective inexact solver for each of these subproblems. Contrary to traditional wisdom, we find that the Stokes problem can be solved nearly as efficiently as the independent pressure and velocity subproblems, making the overall cost of solving the Stokes system comparable to the cost of classical projection or fractional step methods for incompressible flow, even for steady flow and in the presence of large density and viscosity contrasts. Two of the five preconditioners considered here are found to be robust to GMRES restarts and to increasing problem size, making them suitable for large-scale problems. Our work opens many possibilities for constructing novel unsplit temporal integrators for finite-volume spatial discretizations of the equations of low Mach and incompressible flow dynamics.

A new Particle Vortex Method, called Diffused Vortex Hydrodynamics (DVH), is presented in this paper. The DVH is a meshless method characterized by the use of a regular distribution of points close to a solid surface to perform the vorticity diffusion process in the boundary layer regions. This redistribution avoids excessive clustering or rarefaction of the vortex particles providing robustness and high accuracy to the method. The generation of the regular distribution of points is performed through a packing algorithm which is embedded in the solver. The packing algorithm collocates points regularly around body of arbitrary shape allowing an exact enforcement on the solid surfaces of the no-slip boundary condition. The present method is tested and validated on different problems of increasing complexities up to flows with Reynolds number equal to 100,000 (without using any subgrid-scale turbulence model).

A weak Galerkin (WG) method is introduced and numerically tested for the Helmholtz equation. This method is flexible by using discontinuous piecewise polynomials and retains the mass conservation property. At the same time, the WG finite element formulation is symmetric and parameter free. Several test scenarios are designed for a numerical investigation on the accuracy, convergence, and robustness of the WG method in both inhomogeneous and homogeneous media over convex and non-convex domains. Challenging problems with high wave numbers are also examined. Our numerical experiments indicate that the weak Galerkin is a finite element technique that is easy to implement, and provides very accurate and robust numerical solutions for the Helmholtz problem with high wave numbers.

We employ the lattice Boltzmann method and random walk particle tracking to simulate the time evolution of hydrodynamic dispersion in bulk, random, monodisperse, hard-sphere packings with bed porosities (interparticle void volume fractions) between the random-close and the random-loose packing limit. Using Jodrey-Tory and Monte Carlo-based algorithms and a systematic variation of the packing protocols we generate a portfolio of packings, whose microstructures differ in their degree of heterogeneity (DoH). Because the DoH quantifies the heterogeneity of the void space distribution in a packing, the asymptotic longitudinal dispersion coefficient calculated for the packings increases with the packings’ DoH. We investigate the influence of packing length (up to 150 dp, where dp is the sphere diameter) and grid resolution (up to 90 nodes per dp) on the simulated hydrodynamic dispersion coefficient, and demonstrate that the chosen packing dimensions of 10 dpx 10 dpx 70 dp and the employed grid resolution of 60 nodes per dp are sufficient to observe asymptotic behavior of the dispersion coefficient and to minimize finite size effects. Asymptotic values of the dispersion coefficients calculated for the generated packings are compared with simulated as well as experimental data from the literature and yield good to excellent agreement.

In many problems, one wishes to solve the Helmholtz equation with variable coefficients within the Laplacian-like term and use a high order accurate method (e.g., fourth order accurate) to alleviate the points-per-wavelength constraint by reducing the dispersion errors. The variation of coefficients in the equation may be due to an inhomogeneous medium and/or non-Cartesian coordinates. This renders existing fourth order finite difference methods inapplicable. We develop a new compact scheme that is provably fourth order accurate even for these problems. We present numerical results that corroborate the fourth order convergence rate for several model problems.

This article describes a number of velocity-based moving mesh numerical methods for multidimensional nonlinear time-dependent partial differential equations (PDEs). It consists of a short historical review followed by a detailed description of a recently developed multidimensional moving mesh finite element method based on conservation. Finite element algorithms are derived for both mass-conserving and non mass-conserving problems, and results shown for a number of multidimensional nonlinear test problems, including the second order porous medium equation and the fourth order thin film equation as well as a two-phase problem. Further applications and extensions are referenced.

The Brinkman model describes flow of fluid in complex porous media with a high-contrast permeability coefficient such that the flow is dominated by Darcy in some regions and by Stokes in others. A weak Galerkin (WG) finite element method for solving the Brinkman equations in two or three dimensional spaces by using polynomials is developed and analyzed. The WG method is designed by using the generalized functions and their weak derivatives which are defined as generalized distributions. The variational form we considered in this paper is based on two gradient operators which is different from the usual gradient-divergence operators for Brinkman equations. The WG method is highly flexible by allowing the use of discontinuous functions on arbitrary polygons or polyhedra with certain shape regularity. Optimal-order error estimates are established for the corresponding WG finite element solutions in various norms. Some computational results are presented to demonstrate the robustness, reliability, accuracy, and flexibility of the WG method for the Brinkman equations.

In this paper we present a selective segmentation model using a dual level set variational formulation. Our variational model aims to segment all objects with one level set function (global) and the selected object, which is the closest to the geometric constraints (markers), with another level set (local). It is a combination of edge detection, markers distance function and active contour without edges. Experimental results show that our model is more robust than previous work.

This work is concerned with the modelling of the interaction of fluid flow with flexibly supported rigid bodies. The fluid flow is modelled by Lattice-Boltzmann Method, coupled to a set of ordinary differential equations describing the dynamics of the solid body in terms its elastic and damping properties. The time discretization of the body dynamics is performed via the Time Discontinuous Galerkin Method. Several numerical examples are presented and highlight the robustness and efficiency of the proposed methodology, by means of comparisons with previously published results. The examples show that the present fluid-structure method is able to capture vortex- induced oscillations of flexibly-supported rigid body.

A reconstruction-based discontinuous Galerkin (RDG(P1P2)) method, a variant of P1P2 method, is presented for the solution of the compressible Euler equations on arbitrary grids. In this method, an in-cell reconstruction, designed to enhance the accuracy of the discontinuous Galerkin method, is used to obtain a quadratic polynomial solution (P2) from the underlying linear polynomial (P1) discontinuous Galerkin solution using a least-squares method. The stencils used in the reconstruction involve only the von Neumann neighborhood (face-neighboring cells) and are compact and consistent with the underlying DG method. The developed RDG method is used to compute a variety of flow problems on arbitrary meshes to demonstrate its accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and versatility. The numerical results indicate that this RDG(P1P2) method is third-order accurate, and outperforms the third-order DG method (DG(P2)) in terms of both computing costs and storage requirements.

Numerical simulation of two-phase flow in fractured karst reservoirs is still a challenging issue. The triple-porosity model is the major approach up to now. However, the triple-continuum assumption in this model is unacceptable for many cases. In the present work, an efficient numerical model has been developed for immiscible two-phase flow in fractured karst reservoirs based on the idea of equivalent continuum representation. First, based on the discrete fracture-vug model and homogenization theory, the effective absolute permeability tensors for each grid blocks are calculated. And then an analytical procedure to obtain a pseudo relative permeability curves for a grid block containing fractures and cavities has been successfully implemented. Next, a full-tensor simulator has been designed based on a hybrid numerical method (combining mixed finite element method and finite volume method). A simple fracture system has been used to demonstrate the validity of our method. At last, we have used the fracture and cavity statistics data from TAHE outcrops in west China, effective permeability values and other parameters from our code, and an equivalent continuum simulator to calculate the water flooding profiles for more realistic systems.

Collocation has become a standard tool for approximation of parameterized systems in the uncertainty quantification (UQ) community. Techniques for least-squares regularization, compressive sampling recovery, and interpolatory reconstruction are becoming standard tools used in a variety of applications. Selection of a collocation mesh is frequently a challenge, but methods that construct geometrically unstructured collocation meshes have shown great potential due to attractive theoretical properties and direct, simple generation and implementation. We investigate properties of these meshes, presenting stability and accuracy results that can be used as guides for generating stochastic collocation grids in multiple dimensions.

We present a well-posed and discretely stable perfectly matched layer for the anisotropic (and isotropic) elastic wave equations without first re-writing the governing equations as a first order system. The new model is derived by the complex coordinate stretching technique. Using standard perturbation methods we show that complex frequency shift together with a chosen real scaling factor ensures the decay of eigen-modes for all relevant frequencies. To buttress the stability properties and the robustness of the proposed model, numerical experiments are presented for anisotropic elastic wave equations. The model is approximated with a stable node-centered finite difference scheme that is second order accurate both in time and space.

We propose an a-posteriori error/smoothness indicator for standard semi-discrete finite volume schemes for systems of conservation laws, based on the numerical production of entropy. This idea extends previous work by the first author limited to central finite volume schemes on staggered grids. We prove that the indicator converges to zero with the same rate of the error of the underlying numerical scheme on smooth flows under grid refinement. We construct and test an adaptive scheme for systems of equations in which the mesh is driven by the entropy indicator. The adaptive scheme uses a single nonuniform grid with a variable timestep. We show how to implement a second order scheme on such a space-time non uniform grid, preserving accuracy and conservation properties. We also give an example of a p-adaptive strategy.