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Title: High-Order Curvilinear Finite Element Methods for Lagrangian Hydrodynamics [High Order Curvilinear Finite Elements for Lagrangian Hydrodynamics]

Journal Article · · SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1137/120864672· OSTI ID:1226956
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

The numerical approximation of the Euler equations of gas dynamics in a movingLagrangian frame is at the heart of many multiphysics simulation algorithms. Here, we present a general framework for high-order Lagrangian discretization of these compressible shock hydrodynamics equations using curvilinear finite elements. This method is an extension of the approach outlined in [Dobrev et al., Internat. J. Numer. Methods Fluids, 65 (2010), pp. 1295--1310] and can be formulated for any finite dimensional approximation of the kinematic and thermodynamic fields, including generic finite elements on two- and three-dimensional meshes with triangular, quadrilateral, tetrahedral, or hexahedral zones. We discretize the kinematic variables of position and velocity using a continuous high-order basis function expansion of arbitrary polynomial degree which is obtained via a corresponding high-order parametric mapping from a standard reference element. This enables the use of curvilinear zone geometry, higher-order approximations for fields within a zone, and a pointwise definition of mass conservation which we refer to as strong mass conservation. Moreover, we discretize the internal energy using a piecewise discontinuous high-order basis function expansion which is also of arbitrary polynomial degree. This facilitates multimaterial hydrodynamics by treating material properties, such as equations of state and constitutive models, as piecewise discontinuous functions which vary within a zone. To satisfy the Rankine--Hugoniot jump conditions at a shock boundary and generate the appropriate entropy, we introduce a general tensor artificial viscosity which takes advantage of the high-order kinematic and thermodynamic information available in each zone. Finally, we apply a generic high-order time discretization process to the semidiscrete equations to develop the fully discrete numerical algorithm. Our method can be viewed as the high-order generalization of the so-called staggered-grid hydrodynamics (SGH) approach and we show that under specific low-order assumptions, we exactly recover the classical SGH method. We also present numerical results from an extensive series of verification tests that demonstrate several important practical advantages of using high-order finite elements in this context.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1226956
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-516394
Journal Information:
SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, Vol. 34, Issue 5; ISSN 1064-8275
Publisher:
SIAM
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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