Stefan Frei

Stefan Frei, Thomas Richter, Thomas Wick

In this work, we describe a simple finite element approach that is able to resolve weak discontinuities in interface problems accurately. The approach is based on a fixed patch mesh consisting of quadrilaterals, that will stay unchanged independent of the position of the interface. Inside the patches we refine once more, either in eight triangles or in four quadrilaterals, in such a way that the interface is locally resolved. The resulting finite element approach can be considered a fitted finite element approach. In our practical implementation, we do not construct this fitted mesh, however. Instead, the local degrees of freedom are included in a parametric way in the finite element space, or to be more precise in the local mappings between a reference patch and the physical patches. We describe the implementation in the open source C++ finite element library deal.II in detail and present two numerical examples to illustrate the performance of the approach. Finally, detailed studies of the behavior of iterative linear solvers complement this work.

Erik Burman, Miguel A. Fernández, Stefan Frei

We derive a Nitsche-based formulation for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems with contact. The approach is based on the work of Chouly and Hild [SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis. 2013;51(2):1295--1307] for contact problems in solid mechanics. We present two numerical approaches, both of them formulating the FSI interface and the contact conditions simultaneously in equation form on a joint interface-contact surface $Γ(t)$. The first approach uses a relaxation of the contact conditions to allow for a small mesh-dependent gap between solid and wall. The second alternative introduces an artificial fluid below the contact surface. The resulting systems of equations can be included {in a consistent fashion} within a monolithic variational formulation, which prevents the so-called "chattering" phenomenon. To deal with the topology changes in the fluid domain at the time of impact, we use a fully Eulerian approach for the FSI problem. We compare the effect of slip and no-slip interface conditions and study the performance of the method by means of numerical examples.

Luis J. Caucha, Stefan Frei, Obidio Rubio

In this article we present a numerical framework based on continuum models for the fluid dynamics and the CO$_2$ gas distribution in the alveolar sacs of the human lung during expiration and inspiration, including the gas exchange to the cardiovascular system. We include the expansion and contraction of the geometry by means of the Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method. For discretisation, we use equal-order finite elements in combination with pressure-stabilisation techniques based on local projections or interior penalties. We derive formulations for both techniques that are suitable on arbitrarily anisotropic meshes. These formulations are novel within the ALE method. Moreover, we investigate the effect of different boundary conditions, that vary between inspiration and expiration. We present numerical results on a simplified two-dimensional alveolar sac geometry and investigate the influence of the pressure stabilisations as well as the boundary conditions

Behzad Azmi, Stefan Frei, Felix Sauer

This paper investigates the local exponential stabilization of the two-dimensional Navier--Stokes equations to a given reference trajectory by means of receding horizon control (RHC). The control is realized as a linear combination of finitely many actuators, represented by indicator functions supported on subsets of a prescribed control subdomain. We establish local exponential stabilizability and suboptimality for the resulting RHC scheme. Numerical experiments for two flow configurations of increasing complexity illustrate the theoretical findings and assess the practical performance of the method. In addition, we propose a model-order-reduced RHC approach based on proper orthogonal decomposition, which significantly reduces the computational cost while maintaining favorable closed-loop stabilization performance in the numerical experiments.

Stefan Frei, Tobias Knoke, Marc C. Steinbach et al.

This work develops and analyzes a variational-monolithic unfitted finite element formulation of a linear fluid-structure interaction problem in Eulerian coordinates with a fixed interface. The overall discretization is based on a backward Euler scheme in time and finite elements in space. For the spatial discretization we employ a cut finite element method on a mesh consisting of quadrilateral elements. We use a first-order in time formulation of the elasticity equations, inf-sup stable finite elements in the fluid part and Nitsche's method to incorporate the coupling conditions. Ghost penalty terms guarantee the robustness of the approach independently of the way the interface cuts the finite element mesh. The main objective is to establish stability and a priori error estimates. We prove optimal-order error estimates in space and time and substantiate them with numerical tests.

Oscar Eduardo Escobar-Lasso, Stefan Frei, Reinhard Racke et al.

Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is widely regarded as a promising, environmentally friendly and chemical-free strategy for the prevention and control of dengue and other vector-borne diseases. In this paper, we develop and analyze a spatio-temporal reaction-diffusion model describing the dynamics of three mosquito subpopulations involved in SIT-based biological control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Our sex-structured model explicitly incorporates fertile females together with fertile and sterile males that compete for mating. Its key features include spatial mosquito dispersal and the incorporation of spatially heterogeneous external releases of sterile individuals. We establish the existence and uniqueness of global, non negative, and bounded solutions, guaranteeing the mathematical well-posedness and biological consistency of the system. A fully discrete numerical scheme based on the finite element method and an implicit-explicit time-stepping scheme is proposed and analyzed. Numerical simulations confirm the presence of a critical release-size threshold governing eradication versus persistence at a stable equilibrium with reduced total population size, in agreement with the underlying ODE dynamics. Moreover, the spatial structure of the model allows us to analyze the impact of spatial distributions, heterogeneous releases, and periodic impulsive control strategies, providing insight into the optimal spatial and temporal deployment of SIT-based interventions.

Stefan Frei

In this article, we analyse a stabilised equal-order finite element approximation for the Stokes equations on anisotropic meshes. In particular, we allow arbitrary anisotropies in a sub-domain, for example along the boundary of the domain, with the only condition that a maximum angle is fulfilled in each element.This discretisation is motivated by applications on moving domains as arising e.g. in fluid-structure interaction or multiphase-flow problems. To deal with the anisotropies, we define a modification of the original Continuous Interior Penalty stabilisation approach. We show analytically the discrete stability of the method and convergence of order ${\cal O}(h^{3/2})$ in the energy norm and ${\cal O}(h^{5/2})$ in the $L^2$-norm of the velocities. We present numerical examples for a linear Stokes problem and for a non-linear fluid-structure interaction problem, that substantiate the analytical results and show the capabilities of the approach.