Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to put in evidence that the fractional‐step method (FSM) used to solve the incompressible transient Euler and Navier–Stokes equations for free‐surface flows has a problem inherent to the method that may produce unacceptable variations of the domain volume. A simple modification of the free‐surface boundary term is introduced in order to reduce considerably the volume loss and preserve the computational advantages of the FSM.

Abstract

Laplace formulations are weak formulations of the Navier–Stokes equations commonly used in computational fluid dynamics. In these schemes, the viscous terms are given as a function of the Laplace diffusion operator only. Despite their popularity, recently, it has been proven that they violate a fundamental principle of continuum mechanics, the principle of objectivity. It is remarkable that such flaw has not being noticed before, neither detected in numerical experiments. In this work, a series of objectivity tests have been designed with the purpose of revealing such problem in real numerical experiments. Through the tests it is shown how, for slip boundaries or free-surfaces, Laplace formulations generate non-physical solutions which widely depart from the real fluid dynamics. These tests can be easily reproduced, not requiring complex simulation tools. Furthermore, they can be used as benchmarks to check consistency of developed or commercial software. The article is closed with a discussion of the mathematical aspects involved, including the issues of boundary conditions and objectivity.

Abstract

In this work, a domain decomposition strategy for non-linear hyper-reduced-order models is presented. The basic idea consists of restricting the reduced-order basis functions to the nodes belonging to each of the subdomains into which the physical domain is partitioned. An extension of the proposed domain decomposition strategy to a hybrid full-order/reduced-order model is then described. The general domain decomposition approach is particularized for the reduced-order finite element approximation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with hyper-reduction. When solving the reduced incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, instabilities in the form of large gradients of the recovered reduced-order unknown at the subdomain interfaces may appear, which is the motivation for the design of additional stability terms giving rise to penalty matrices. Numerical examples illustrate the behavior of the proposed method for the simulation of the reduced-order systems, showing the capability of the approach to adapt to configurations which are not present in the original snapshot set.

Abstract

The Navier–Stokes equations written in Laplace form are often the starting point of many numerical methods for the simulation of viscous flows. Imposing the natural boundary conditions of the Laplace form or neglecting the viscous contributions on free surfaces are traditionally considered reasonable and harmless assumptions. With these boundary conditions any formulation derived from integral methods (like finite elements or finite volumes) recovers the pure Laplacian aspect of the strong form of the equations. This approach has also the advantage of being convenient in terms of computational effort and, as a consequence, it is used extensively. However, we have recently discovered that these resulting Laplacian formulations violate a basic axiom of continuum mechanics: the principle of objectivity. In the present article we give an accurate account about these topics. We also show that unexpected differences may sometimes arise between Laplace discretizations and divergence discretizations.