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At least 397 records · Page 22

Methodology for sensitivity analysis, approximate analysis, and design optimization in CFD for multidisciplinary applications

The straightforward automatic-differentiation and the hand-differentiated incremental iterative methods are interwoven to produce a hybrid scheme that captures some of the strengths of each strategy. With this compromise, discrete aerodynamic sensitivity derivatives are calculated with the efficient incremental iterative solution algorithm of the original flow code. Moreover, the principal advantage of automatic differentiation is retained (i.e., all complicated source code for the derivative calculations is constructed quickly with accuracy). The basic equations for second-order sensitivity derivatives are presented; four methods are compared. Each scheme requires that large systems are solved first for the first-order derivatives and, in all but one method, for the first-order adjoint variables. Of these latter three schemes, two require no solutions of large systems thereafter. For the other two for which additional systems are solved, the equations and solution procedures are analogous to those for the first order derivatives. From a practical viewpoint, implementation of the second-order methods is feasible only with software tools such as automatic differentiation, because of the extreme complexity and large number of terms. First- and second-order sensitivities are calculated accurately for two airfoil problems, including a turbulent flow example; both geometric-shape and flow-condition design variables are considered. Several methods are tested; results are compared on the basis of accuracy, computational time, and computer memory. For first-order derivatives, the hybrid incremental iterative scheme obtained with automatic differentiation is competitive with the best hand-differentiated method; for six independent variables, it is at least two to four times faster than central finite differences and requires only 60 percent more memory than the original code; the performance is expected to improve further in the future.

Taylor, Arthur C., III↗

Finite element computation of incompressible flows

Among the solution techniques presented for FEM computation of incompressible flows are stabilized formulations designed to prevent the numerical oscillations that may be generated by (1) the presence of dominant advection terms in the governing equations, or (2) the failure to use an acceptable combination of interpolation functions to represent velocity and pressure fields. It is shown that the space-time formulation, in conjunction with the Galerkin-least squares methods, can be used to compute steady incompressible flows involving moving boundaries and interfaces; it is recommended that iteration methods be used to reduce the associated computational costs.

Tezduyar, T. E.↗

Advanced Newton methods for geodynamical models of Stokes flow with viscoplastic rheologies

Strain localization and resulting plasticity and failure play an important role in the evolution of the lithosphere. These phenomena are commonly modeled by Stokes flows with viscoplastic rheologies. The nonlinearities of these rheologies make the numerical solution of the resulting systems challenging, and iterative methods often converge slowly or not at all. Yet accurate solutions are critical for representing the physics. Moreover, for some rheology laws, aspects of solvability are still unknown. We study a basic but representative viscoplastic rheology law. The law involves a yield stress that is independent of the dynamic pressure, referred to as von Mises yield criterion. Two commonly used variants, perfect/ideal and composite viscoplasticity, are compared. We derive both variants from energy minimization principles, and we use this perspective to argue when solutions are unique. We propose a new stress-velocity Newton solution algorithm that treats the stress as an independent variable during the Newton linearization but requires solution only of Stokes systems that are of the usual velocity-pressure form. To study different solution algorithms, we implement 2-D and 3-D finite element discretizations, and we generate Stokes problems with up to 7 orders of magnitude viscosity contrasts, in which compression or tension results in significant nonlinear localization effects. Comparing the performance of the proposed Newton method with the standard Newton method and the Picard fixed-point method, we observe a significant reduction in the number of iterations and improved stability with respect to problem nonlinearity, mesh refinement, and the polynomial order of the discretization.

Rudi, Johann↗

Fourier domain closed-form formulas for estimation of kinetic parameters in reversible multi-compartment models

Background: Compared with static imaging, dynamic emission computed tomographic imaging with compartment modeling can quantify in vivo physiologic processes, providing useful information about molecular disease processes. Dynamic imaging involves estimation of kinetic rate parameters. For multi-compartment models, kinetic parameter estimation can be computationally demanding and problematic with local minima. Methods: This paper offers a new perspective to the compartment model fitting problem where Fourier linear system theory is applied to derive closed-form formulas for estimating kinetic parameters for the two-compartment model. The proposed Fourier domain estimation method provides a unique solution, and offers very different noise response as compared to traditional non-linear chi-squared minimization techniques. Results: The unique feature of the proposed Fourier domain method is that only low frequency components are used for kinetic parameter estimation, where the DC (i.e., the zero frequency) component in the data is treated as the most important information, and high frequency components that tend to be corrupted by statistical noise are discarded. Computer simulations show that the proposed method is robust without having to specify the initial condition. The resultant solution can be fine tuned using the traditional iterative method. Conclusions: The proposed Fourier-domain estimation method has closed-form formulas. The proposed Fourier-domain curve-fitting method does not require an initial condition, it minimizes a quadratic objective function and a closed-form solution can be obtained. The noise is easier to control, simply by discarding the high frequency components, and emphasizing the DC component.

Nuclear medicine imaging↗

Examples Of Synthesis Of Dual-Shaped Reflectors

Report presents examples to demonstrate validity and utility of method of synthesis of offset dual-shape reflectors. Method of synthesis described by the authors in previous journal article. Current report reviews derivation of partial differential equations and iterative method of numerical solution. Discusses significance of starting point of numerical integration on each reflector surface; this point could be at center, on outer rim, or at interior point. Emphasizes that one of notable attributes of partial differential equations is speed with which they can be solved.

Galindo, Victor↗

Newton trust-region methods with primary variable switching for simulating high temperature multiphase porous media flow

Coupling multiphase flow with energy transport due to high temperature heat sources introduces significant new challenges since boiling and condensation processes can lead to dry-out conditions with subsequent re-wetting. The transition between two-phase and single-phase behavior can require changes to the primary dependent variables adding discontinuities as well as extending constitutive nonlinear relations to extreme physical conditions. Practical simulations of large-scale engineered domains lead to Jacobian systems with a very large number of unknowns that must be solved efficiently using iterative methods in parallel on high-performance computers. Performance assessment of potential nuclear repositories, carbon sequestration sites and geothermal reservoirs can require numerous Monte-Carlo simulations to explore uncertainty in material properties, boundary conditions, and failure scenarios. Due to the numerical challenges, standard NR iteration may not converge over the range of required simulations and require more sophisticated optimization method like trust-region. In this study, we use the open-source simulator PFLOTRAN for the important practical problem of the safety assessment of future nuclear waste repositories in the U.S. DOE geologic disposal safety assessment Framework. The simulator applies the PETSc parallel framework and a backward Euler, finite volume discretization. We demonstrate failure of the conventional NR method and the success of trust-region modifications to Newton’s method for a series of test problems of increasing complexity. Trust-region methods essentially modify the Newton step size and direction under some circumstances where the standard NR iteration can cause the solution to diverge or oscillate. Furthermore, we show how the Newton Trust-Region method can be adapted for Primary Variable Switching (PVS) when the multiphase state changes due to boiling or condensation. The simulations with high-temperature heat sources which led to extreme nonlinear processes with many state changes in the domain did not converge with NR, but they do complete successfully with the trust-region methods modified for PVS. This implementation effectively decreased weeks of simulation time needing manual adjustments to complete a simulation down to a day. Finally, we show the strong scalability of the methods on a single node and multiple nodes in an HPC cluster.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A semiempirical method for obtaining fuselage normal areas from fuselage Mach sliced areas

An aircraft designed to meet low sonic boom or shaped ground overpressure signature requirements has a volume and lift equivalent area distribution which is in close agreement with the equivalent areas of a desired theoretical curve. Final-stage design modifications of the aircraft's geometry to meet this requirement are usually made through adjustments to the fuselage normal cross-section areas that are derived from the corresponding fuselage equivalent areas by iterative methods. The time required to obtain a good agreement between the desired low-boom area distribution and the conceptual aircraft total area distribution can be reduced by using a semi-empirical method which eliminates much of the final trial-and-error iteration previously employed. Fuselages from conceptual aircraft designed to generate low sonic boom ground overpressures at cruise Mach numbers of 2.0 and 3.0 were used as examples to examine the method's capabilities and limitations. Results indicated that the method has merit as a design tool consistent with other linear theory methods.

Mack, Robert J.↗

Implicit solvers for unstructured meshes

Implicit methods for unstructured mesh computations are developed and tested. The approximate system which arises from the Newton-linearization of the nonlinear evolution operator is solved by using the preconditioned generalized minimum residual technique. These different preconditioners are investigated: the incomplete LU factorization (ILU), block diagonal factorization, and the symmetric successive over-relaxation (SSOR). The preconditioners have been optimized to have good vectorization properties. The various methods are compared over a wide range of problems. Ordering of the unknowns, which affects the convergence of these sparse matrix iterative methods, is also investigated. Results are presented for inviscid and turbulent viscous calculations on single and multielement airfoil configurations using globally and adaptively generated meshes.

Venkatakrishnan, V.↗

Testing the Perey effect

Here, the effects of non-local potentials have historically been approximately included by applying a correction factor to the solution of the corresponding equation for the local equivalent interaction. This is usually referred to as the Perey correction factor. In this work we investigate the validity of the Perey correction factor for single-channel bound and scattering states, as well as in transfer (p, d) cross sections. Method: We solve the scattering and bound state equations for non-local interactions of the Perey-Buck type, through an iterative method. Using the distorted wave Born approximation, we construct the T-matrix for (p,d) on 17 O, 41 Ca, 49 Ca, 127 Sn, 133 Sn, and 209 Pb at 20 and 50 MeV. As a result, we found that for bound states, the Perey corrected wave function resulting from the local equation agreed well with that from the non-local equation in the interior region, but discrepancies were found in the surface and peripheral regions. Overall, the Perey correction factor was adequate for scattering states, with the exception of a few partial waves corresponding to the grazing impact parameters. These differences proved to be important for transfer reactions. In conclusion, the Perey correction factor does offer an improvement over taking a direct local equivalent solution. However, if the desired accuracy is to be better than 10%, the exact solution of the non-local equation should be pursued.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Convergence and stability properties of minimal polynomial and reduced rank extrapolation algorithms

The minimal polynomial and reduced rank extrapolation algorithms are two acceleration of convergence methods for sequences of vectors. In a recent survey these methods were tested and compared with the scalar, vector, topological epsilon algorithms, and were observed to be more efficient than the latter. It was also observed that the two methods have similar convergence properties. The convergence and stability properties of these methods are analyzed and the performance of the acceleration methods when applied to a class of vector sequences that includes those sequences obtained from systems of linear equations by using matrix iterative methods is discussed.

Sidi, A.↗

Preconditioned conjugate residual methods for the solution of spectral equations

Conjugate residual methods for the solution of spectral equations are described. An inexact finite-difference operator is introduced as a preconditioner in the iterative procedures. Application of these techniques is limited to problems for which the symmetric part of the coefficient matrix is positive definite. Although the spectral equation is a very ill-conditioned and full matrix problem, the computational effort of the present iterative methods for solving such a system is comparable to that for the sparse matrix equations obtained from the application of either finite-difference or finite-element methods to the same problems. Numerical experiments are shown for a self-adjoint elliptic partial differential equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions, and comparison with other solution procedures for spectral equations is presented.

Wong, Y. S.↗

Large-scale computation of incompressible viscous flow by least-squares finite element method

The least-squares finite element method (LSFEM) based on the velocity-pressure-vorticity formulation is applied to large-scale/three-dimensional steady incompressible Navier-Stokes problems. This method can accommodate equal-order interpolations and results in symmetric, positive definite algebraic system which can be solved effectively by simple iterative methods. The first-order velocity-Bernoulli function-vorticity formulation for incompressible viscous flows is also tested. For three-dimensional cases, an additional compatibility equation, i.e., the divergence of the vorticity vector should be zero, is included to make the first-order system elliptic. The simple substitution of the Newton's method is employed to linearize the partial differential equations, the LSFEM is used to obtain discretized equations, and the system of algebraic equations is solved using the Jacobi preconditioned conjugate gradient method which avoids formation of either element or global matrices (matrix-free) to achieve high efficiency. To show the validity of this scheme for large-scale computation, we give numerical results for 2D driven cavity problem at Re = 10000 with 408 x 400 bilinear elements. The flow in a 3D cavity is calculated at Re = 100, 400, and 1,000 with 50 x 50 x 50 trilinear elements. The Taylor-Goertler-like vortices are observed for Re = 1,000.

Jiang, Bo-Nan↗

A transient FETI methodology for large-scale parallel implicit computations in structural mechanics, part 2

Explicit codes are often used to simulate the nonlinear dynamics of large-scale structural systems, even for low frequency response, because the storage and CPU requirements entailed by the repeated factorizations traditionally found in implicit codes rapidly overwhelm the available computing resources. With the advent of parallel processing, this trend is accelerating because explicit schemes are also easier to parallellize than implicit ones. However, the time step restriction imposed by the Courant stability condition on all explicit schemes cannot yet and perhaps will never be offset by the speed of parallel hardware. Therefore, it is essential to develop efficient and robust alternatives to direct methods that are also amenable to massively parallel processing because implicit codes using unconditionally stable time-integration algorithms are computationally more efficient than explicit codes when simulating low-frequency dynamics. Here we present a domain decomposition method for implicit schemes that requires significantly less storage than factorization algorithms, that is several times faster than other popular direct and iterative methods, that can be easily implemented on both shared and local memory parallel processors, and that is both computationally and communication-wise efficient. The proposed transient domain decomposition method is an extension of the method of Finite Element Tearing and Interconnecting (FETI) developed by Farhat and Roux for the solution of static problems. Serial and parallel performance results on the CRAY Y-MP/8 and the iPSC-860/128 systems are reported and analyzed for realistic structural dynamics problems. These results establish the superiority of the FETI method over both the serial/parallel conjugate gradient algorithm with diagonal scaling and the serial/parallel direct method, and contrast the computational power of the iPSC-860/128 parallel processor with that of the CRAY Y-MP/8 system.

Farhat, Charbel↗

A transient FETI methodology for large-scale parallel implicit computations in structural mechanics

Explicit codes are often used to simulate the nonlinear dynamics of large-scale structural systems, even for low frequency response, because the storage and CPU requirements entailed by the repeated factorizations traditionally found in implicit codes rapidly overwhelm the available computing resources. With the advent of parallel processing, this trend is accelerating because explicit schemes are also easier to parallelize than implicit ones. However, the time step restriction imposed by the Courant stability condition on all explicit schemes cannot yet -- and perhaps will never -- be offset by the speed of parallel hardware. Therefore, it is essential to develop efficient and robust alternatives to direct methods that are also amenable to massively parallel processing because implicit codes using unconditionally stable time-integration algorithms are computationally more efficient when simulating low-frequency dynamics. Here we present a domain decomposition method for implicit schemes that requires significantly less storage than factorization algorithms, that is several times faster than other popular direct and iterative methods, that can be easily implemented on both shared and local memory parallel processors, and that is both computationally and communication-wise efficient. The proposed transient domain decomposition method is an extension of the method of Finite Element Tearing and Interconnecting (FETI) developed by Farhat and Roux for the solution of static problems. Serial and parallel performance results on the CRAY Y-MP/8 and the iPSC-860/128 systems are reported and analyzed for realistic structural dynamics problems. These results establish the superiority of the FETI method over both the serial/parallel conjugate gradient algorithm with diagonal scaling and the serial/parallel direct method, and contrast the computational power of the iPSC-860/128 parallel processor with that of the CRAY Y-MP/8 system.

Farhat, Charbel↗

Lyapunov-Based Iterative Learning of Regions of Attraction for Autonomous Systems

This paper proposes a novel algorithm for estimating the region of attraction of equilibrium points for nonlinear discrete-time autonomous systems. The method iteratively expands an initial estimate of the region of attraction by constructing unions of sublevel sets of learned functions parametrized as neural networks. Unlike conventional techniques that rely on a single global Lyapunov function, the proposed approach provides a collection of local Lyapunov-like functions, enabling richer representations and potentially larger region of attraction estimates. These functions are trained using sampled state-space data, and their Lipschitz continuity ensures that desirable properties extend beyond the training samples. The devised strategy is tested via numerical simulations, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Solution of a few nonlinear problems in aerodynamics by the finite elements and functional least squares methods

The numerical simulation of the transonic flows of idealized fluids and of incompressible viscous fluids, by the nonlinear least squares methods is presented. The nonlinear equations, the boundary conditions, and the various constraints controlling the two types of flow are described. The standard iterative methods for solving a quasi elliptical nonlinear equation with partial derivatives are reviewed with emphasis placed on two examples: the fixed point method applied to the Gelder functional in the case of compressible subsonic flows and the Newton method used in the technique of decomposition of the lifting potential. The new abstract least squares method is discussed. It consists of substituting the nonlinear equation by a problem of minimization in a H to the minus 1 type Sobolev functional space.

Periaux, J.↗

Planning Transport and Manufacturing for Lowest Cost

A method applicable to transportation and manufacturing. New algorithm alleviates some mathematical difficulties of planning segmented trajectories for lowest cost. Algorithm involves modified Newtonian iterative method in which periapse times, closest approach distances, and orientations of approach hyperbolas serves as independent variables.

Damario, L. A.↗

Spectral methods for inviscid, compressible flows

Report developments in the application of spectral methods to two dimensional compressible flows are reviewed. A brief introduction to spectral methods -- their history and especially their implementation -- is provided. The stress is on those techniques relevant to transonic flow computation. The spectral multigrid iterative methods are discussed with application to the transonic full potential equation. Discontinuous solutions of the Euler equations are considered. The key element is the shock fitting technique which is briefly explained.

Hussaini, M. Y.↗