Philipp W. Schroeder

Philipp W. Schroeder, Volker John, Philip L. Lederer et al.

Two-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz instability problems are popular examples for assessing discretizations for incompressible flows at high Reynolds number. Unfortunately, the results in the literature differ considerably. This paper presents computational studies of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability problem with high order divergence-free finite element methods. Reference results in several quantities of interest are obtained for three different Reynolds numbers up to the beginning of the final vortex pairing. A mesh-independent prediction of the final pairing is not achieved due to the sensitivity of the considered problem with respect to small perturbations. A theoretical explanation of this sensitivity to small perturbations is provided based on the theory of self-organization of 2D turbulence. Possible sources of perturbations that arise in almost any numerical simulation are discussed.

Philipp W. Schroeder, Christoph Lehrenfeld, Alexander Linke et al.

Inf-sup stable FEM applied to time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes flows are considered. The focus lies on robust estimates for the kinetic and dissipation energies in a twofold sense. Firstly, pressure-robustness ensures the fulfilment of a fundamental invariance principle and velocity error estimates are not corrupted by the pressure approximability. Secondly, $Re$-semi-robustness means that constants appearing on the right-hand side of kinetic and dissipation energy error estimates (including Gronwall constants) do not explicitly depend on the Reynolds number. Such estimates rely on the essential regularity assumption $\nabla u \in L^1(0,T;L^\infty(Ω))$ which is discussed in detail. In the sense of best practice, we review and establish pressure- and $Re$-semi-robust estimates for pointwise divergence-free $H^1$-conforming FEM (like Scott-Vogelius pairs or certain isogeometric based FEM) and pointwise divergence-free $H$(div)-conforming discontinuous Galerkin FEM. For convection-dominated problems, the latter naturally includes an upwind stabilisation for the velocity which is not gradient-based.

Philipp W. Schroeder, Gert Lube

In this article, we consider exactly divergence-free $H$(div)-conforming finite element methods for time-dependent incompressible viscous flow problems. This is an extension of previous research concerning divergence-free $H^1$-conforming methods. For the linearised Oseen case, the first semi-discrete numerical analysis for time-dependent flows is presented here whereby special emphasis is put on pressure- and Reynolds-semi-robustness. For convection-dominated problems, the proposed method relies on a velocity jump upwind stabilisation which is not gradient-based. Complementing the theoretical results, $H$(div)-FEM are applied to the simulation of full nonlinear Navier-Stokes problems. Focussing on dynamic high Reynolds number examples with vortical structures, the proposed method proves to be capable of reliably handling the planar lattice flow problem, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and freely decaying two-dimensional turbulence.

Mine Akbas, Alexander Linke, Leo G. Rebholz et al.

Grad-div stabilization is a classical remedy in conforming mixed finite element methods for incompressible flow problems, for mitigating velocity errors that are sometimes called poor mass conservation. Such errors arise due to the relaxation of the divergence constraint in classical mixed methods, and are excited whenever the spatial discretization has to deal with comparably large and complicated pressures. In this contribution, an analogue of grad-div stabilization for Discontinuous Galerkin methods is studied. Here, the key is the penalization of the jumps of the normal velocities over facets of the triangulation, which controls the measure-valued part of the distributional divergence of the discrete velocity solution. Our contribution is twofold: first, we characterize the limit for arbitrarily large penalization parameters, which shows that the stabilized nonconforming Discontinuous Galerkin methods remain robust and accurate in this limit; second, we extend these ideas to the case of non-simplicial meshes; here, broken grad-div stabilization must be used in addition to the normal velocity jump penalization, in order to get the desired pressure robustness effect. The analysis is performed for the Stokes equations, and more complex flows and Crouzeix-Raviart elements are considered in numerical examples that also show the relevance of the theory in practical settings.

Nicolas R. Gauger, Alexander Linke, Philipp W. Schroeder

An improved understanding of the divergence-free constraint for the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations leads to the observation that a semi-norm and corresponding equivalence classes of forces are fundamental for their nonlinear dynamics. The recent concept of {\em pressure-robustness} allows to distinguish between space discretisations that discretise these equivalence classes appropriately or not. This contribution compares the accuracy of pressure-robust and non-pressure-robust space discretisations for transient high Reynolds number flows, starting from the observation that in generalised Beltrami flows the nonlinear convection term is balanced by a strong pressure gradient. Then, pressure-robust methods are shown to outperform comparable non-pressure-robust space discretisations. Indeed, pressure-robust methods of formal order $k$ are comparably accurate than non-pressure-robust methods of formal order $2k$ on coarse meshes. Investigating the material derivative of incompressible Euler flows, it is conjectured that strong pressure gradients are typical for non-trivial high Reynolds number flows. Connections to vortex-dominated flows are established. Thus, pressure-robustness appears to be a prerequisite for accurate incompressible flow solvers at high Reynolds numbers. The arguments are supported by numerical analysis and numerical experiments.

Christoph Lehrenfeld, Gert Lube, Philipp W. Schroeder

In this note we aim at a characterisation of the discretisation of viscous dissipation which allows to distinguish `physical' (also frequently called `molecular', or `resolved') from `numerical' dissipation in DG-discretised incompressible flow simulations.

Gert Lube, Philipp W. Schroeder

Consider the transient incompressible Navier-Stokes flow at high Reynolds numbers. A high-order H(div)-conforming FEM with pointwise divergence-free dis- crete velocities is applied to implicit large-eddy-simulation in two limit cases: i) decaying turbulence in periodic domains, ii) wall bounded channel flow.

Philipp W. Schroeder, Gert Lube

This article focusses on the analysis of a conforming finite element method for the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. For divergence-free approximations, in a semi-discrete formulation, we prove error estimates for the velocity that hold independently of both pressure and Reynolds number. Here, a key aspect is the use of the discrete Stokes projection for the error splitting. Optionally, edge-stabilisation can be included in the case of dominant convection. Emphasising the importance of conservation properties, the theoretical results are complemented with numerical simulations of vortex dynamics and laminar boundary layer flows.

Philipp W. Schroeder, Gert Lube

This paper presents heavily grad-div and pressure jump stabilised, equal- and mixed-order discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods for non-isothermal incompressible flows based on the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation. In this framework, the enthalpy-porosity model for multiphase flow in melting and solidification problems can be employed. By considering the differentially heated cavity and the melting of pure gallium in a rectangular enclosure, it is shown that both boundary layers and sharp moving interior layers can be handled naturally by the proposed class of non-conforming methods. Due to the stabilising effect of the grad-div term and the robustness of discontinuous Galerkin methods, it is possible to solve the underlying problems accurately on coarse, non-adapted meshes. The interaction of heavy grad-div stabilisation and discontinuous Galerkin methods significantly improves the mass conservation properties and the overall accuracy of the numerical scheme which is observed for the first time. Hence, it is inferred that stabilised discontinuous Galerkin methods are highly robust as well as computationally efficient numerical methods to deal with natural convection problems arising in incompressible computational thermo-fluid dynamics.