Upstream mobility Finite Volumes for the Richards equation in heterogenous domains

This paper is concerned with the Richards equation in a heterogeneous domain, each subdomain of which is homogeneous and represents a rocktype. Our first contribution is to rigorously prove convergence toward a weak solution of cell-centered finite-volume schemes with upstream mobility and without Kirchhoff’s transform. Our second contribution is to numerically demonstrate the relevance of locally refining the grid at the interface between subregions, where discontinuities occur, in order to preserve an acceptable accuracy for the results computed with the schemes under consideration.

Coupling of hybridisable discontinuous Galerkin and finite volumes for transient compressible flows

Fast, high-fidelity solution workflows for transient flow phenomena is an important challenge in the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) community. Current low-order methodologies suffer from large dissipation and dispersion errors and require large mesh sizes for unsteady flow simulations. Recently, on the other hand, high-order methods have gained popularity offering high solution accuracy. But they suffer from the lack of robust, curvilinear mesh generators.A novel methodology that combines the advantages of the classical vertex-centred finite volume (FV) method and high-order hybridisable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method is presented for the simulation of transient inviscid compressible flows. The resulting method is capable of simulating the transient effects on coarse, unstructured meshes that are suitable to perform steady simulations with traditional low-order methods. In the vicinity of the aerodynamic shapes, FVs are used whereas in regions where the size of the element is too large for finite volumes to provide an accurate answer, the high-order HDG approach is employed with a non-uniform degree of approximation. The proposed method circumvents the need to produce tailored meshes for transient simulations, as required in a low-order context, and also the need to produce high-order curvilinear meshes, as required by high-order methods.FV and HDG methods for compressible inviscid flows with an implicit time-stepping method and capable of handling flow discontinuities is developed. A two-way coupling of the methods in a monolithic manner was achieved by the consistent application of the so-called transmission conditions at the FV-HDG interface. Numerical tests highlight the optimal convergence properties of the coupled HDG-FV scheme. Numeri-cal examples demonstrate the potential and suitability of the developed methodology for unsteady 2D and 3D flows in the context of simulating the wind gust effect on aerodynamic shapes.

Adaptive wavelet schemes and finite volumes

We consider a procedure for combining high order finite volumes and tree-based nonuniform grids. Especially, we focus on efficient algorithms for third order multidimensional volume interpolation and communication between levels of refinement. In the end, numerical results are reviewed to validate our approach.

Additivity of relative magnetic helicity in finite volumes

Context. Relative magnetic helicity is conserved by magneto-hydrodynamic evolution even in the presence of moderate resistivity. For that reason, it is often invoked as the most relevant constraint on the dynamical evolution of plasmas in complex systems, such as solar and stellar dynamos, photospheric flux emergence, solar eruptions, and relaxation processes in laboratory plasmas. However, such studies often indirectly imply that relative magnetic helicity in a given spatial domain can be algebraically split into the helicity contributions of the composing subvolumes, in other words that it is an additive quantity. A limited number of very specific applications have shown that this is not the case. Aims. Progress in understanding the nonadditivity of relative magnetic helicity requires removal of restrictive assumptions in favor of a general formalism that can be used in both theoretical investigations and numerical applications. Methods. We derive the analytical gauge-invariant expression for the partition of relative magnetic helicity between contiguous finite volumes, without any assumptions on either the shape of the volumes and interface, or the employed gauge. Results. We prove the nonadditivity of relative magnetic helicity in finite volumes in the most general, gauge-invariant formalism, and verify this numerically. We adopt more restrictive assumptions to derive known specific approximations, which yields a unified view of the additivity issue. As an example, the case of a flux rope embedded in a potential field shows that the nonadditivity term in the partition equation is, in general, non-negligible. Conclusions. The nonadditivity of relative magnetic helicity can potentially be a serious impediment to the application of relative helicity conservation as a constraint on the complex dynamics of magnetized plasmas. The relative helicity partition formula can be applied to numerical simulations to precisely quantify the effect of nonadditivity on global helicity budgets of complex physical processes.

A Note on the Sobolev and Gagliardo--Nirenberg Inequality when 𝑝 > 𝑁

It is known that the Sobolev space {W^{1,p}(\mathbb{R}^{N})} is embedded into {L^{Np/(N-p)}(\mathbb{R}^{N})} if {p<N} and into {L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^{N})} if {p>N}. There is usually a discontinuity in the proof of those two different embeddings since, for {p>N}, the estimate {\lVert u\rVert_{\infty}\leq C\lVert Du\rVert_{p}^{N/p}\lVert u\rVert_{p}^{1-N% /p}} is commonly obtained together with an estimate of the Hölder norm. In this note, we give a proof of the {L^{\infty}}-embedding which only follows by an iteration of the Sobolev–Gagliardo–Nirenberg estimate {\lVert u\rVert_{N/(N-1)}\leq C\lVert Du\rVert_{1}}. This kind of proof has the advantage to be easily extended to anisotropic cases and immediately exported to the case of discrete Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces; we give sample results in case of finite differences and finite volumes schemes.