High order summation-by-parts based approximations for discontinuous and nonlinear problems
Description:... Numerical approximations using high order finite differences on summation-byparts (SBP) form are investigated for discontinuous and fully nonlinear systems of partial differential equations. Stability and conservation properties of the approximations are obtained through a weak imposition of interface and boundary conditions with the simultaneous-approximation-term (SAT) technique. The SBP-SAT approximations replicate the continuous integration by parts rule. From this property, well-posedness and integral properties of the continuous problem are mimicked, and energy estimates leading to stability are obtained.
The first part of the thesis focuses on the simulations of discontinuous linear advection problems. An artificial interface is introduced, separating parts of the spatial domain characterized by different wave speeds. A set of flexible stability conditions at the interface are derived, which can be adapted to yield conservative or non-conservative approximations. This model can be interpreted as a simplified version of nonlinear problems involving jumps at shocks, or as a prototypical of wave propagation through different materials.
In the second part of the thesis, the vorticity/stream function formulation of the nonlinear momentum equation for an incompressible inviscid fluid is considered. SBP operators are used to derive a new Arakawa-like Jacobian with mimetic properties by combining different consistent approximations of the convection terms. Energy and enstrophy conservation is obtained for periodic problems using schemes with arbitrarily high order of accuracy. These properties are crucial for long-term numerical calculations in climate and weather forecasts or ocean circulation predictions.
The third and final contribution of the thesis is dedicated to the incompressible Navier-Stokes problem. First, different completely general formulations of energy bounding boundary conditions are derived for the nonlinear equations. The boundary conditions can be used at both far field and solid wall boundaries. The discretisation in time and space with weakly imposed initial and boundary conditions using the SBP-SAT framework is proved to be stable and the divergence free condition is approximated with the design order of the scheme. Next, the same formulations are considered in a linearised setting, whereupon the spectra associated with the initial boundary value problem and its SBP-SAT discretisation are derived using the Laplace-Fourier technique. The influence of different boundary conditions on the spectrum and in particular the convergence to steady state is studied.
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