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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Generation of Surface Coordinates by Elliptic Partial Differential Equations

The problem of generating spatial coordinates by numerical methods through carefully selected mathematical models is of current interest both in mechanics and physics. The problem of generation of a desired system of coordinates in a given surface was considered, which essentially is an effort directed to the problem of grid generation in a two-dimensional non-Euclidean space. The mathematical model selected for this purpose is based on the formulae of Gauss for a surface. The proposed equations can be used to generate a new coordinate system from the data of an already given coordinate system in a surface. If the coefficients of the first and second fundamental forms have been given, then the proposed equations can be used to generate a surface satisfying the given data (surface fitting). The proposed equations can also be used to generate surfaces in the space between two arbitrary given surfaces, thus providing 3D grids in an Euclidean space.

Warsi, Z. U. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Generation of three-dimensional body-fitted coordinates using hyperbolic partial differential equations

An efficient numerical mesh generation scheme capable of creating orthogonal or nearly orthogonal grids about moderately complex three dimensional configurations is described. The mesh is obtained by marching outward from a user specified grid on the body surface. Using spherical grid topology, grids have been generated about full span rectangular wings and a simplified space shuttle orbiter.

Steger, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

On substructuring algorithms and solution techniques for the numerical approximation of partial differential equations

Substructuring methods are in common use in mechanics problems where typically the associated linear systems of algebraic equations are positive definite. Here these methods are extended to problems which lead to nonpositive definite, nonsymmetric matrices. The extension is based on an algorithm which carries out the block Gauss elimination procedure without the need for interchanges even when a pivot matrix is singular. Examples are provided wherein the method is used in connection with finite element solutions of the stationary Stokes equations and the Helmholtz equation, and dual methods for second-order elliptic equations.

Gunzburger, M. D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Asynchronous multilevel adaptive methods for solving partial differential equations on multiprocessors - Performance results

The fast adaptive composite grid method (FAC) is an algorithm that uses various levels of uniform grids (global and local) to provide adaptive resolution and fast solution of PDEs. Like all such methods, it offers parallelism by using possibly many disconnected patches per level, but is hindered by the need to handle these levels sequentially. The finest levels must therefore wait for processing to be essentially completed on all the coarser ones. A recently developed asynchronous version of FAC, called AFAC, completely eliminates this bottleneck to parallelism. This paper describes timing results for AFAC, coupled with a simple load balancing scheme, applied to the solution of elliptic PDEs on an Intel iPSC hypercube. These tests include performance of certain processes necessary in adaptive methods, including moving grids and changing refinement. A companion paper reports on numerical and analytical results for estimating convergence factors of AFAC applied to very large scale examples.

Mccormick, S.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Dynamic grid refinement for partial differential equations on parallel computers

The fast adaptive composite grid method (FAC) is an algorithm that uses various levels of uniform grids to provide adaptive resolution and fast solution of PDEs. An asynchronous version of FAC, called AFAC, that completely eliminates the bottleneck to parallelism is presented. This paper describes the advantage that this algorithm has in adaptive refinement for moving singularities on multiprocessor computers. This work is applicable to the parallel solution of two- and three-dimensional shock tracking problems.

Mccormick, S.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A discrete model of a modified Burgers' partial differential equation

A new finite-difference scheme is constructed for a modified Burger's equation. Three special cases of the equation are considered, and the 'exact' difference schemes for the space- and time-independent forms of the equation are presented, along with the diffusion-free case of Burger's equation modeled by a difference equation. The desired difference scheme is then obtained by imposing on any difference model of the initial equation the requirement that, in the appropriate limits, its difference scheme must reduce the results of the obtained equations.

Mickens, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The numerical dynamic for highly nonlinear partial differential equations

Problems associated with the numerical computation of highly nonlinear equations in computational fluid dynamics are set forth and analyzed in terms of the potential ranges of spurious behaviors. A reaction-convection equation with a nonlinear source term is employed to evaluate the effects related to spatial and temporal discretizations. The discretization of the source term is described according to several methods, and the various techniques are shown to have a significant effect on the stability of the spurious solutions. Traditional linearized stability analyses cannot provide the level of confidence required for accurate fluid dynamics computations, and the incorporation of nonlinear analysis is proposed. Nonlinear analysis based on nonlinear dynamical systems complements the conventional linear approach and is valuable in the analysis of hypersonic aerodynamics and combustion phenomena.

Lafon, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Application and development of the Schwinger multichannel scattering theory and the partial differential equation theory of electron-molecule scattering

One version of the multichannel theory for electron-target scattering based on the Schwinger variational principle, the SMC method, requires the introduction of a projection parameter. The role of the projection parameter a is investigated and it is shown that the principal-value operator in the SMC equation is Hermitian regardless of the value of a as long as it is real and nonzero. In a basis that is properly orthonormalizable, the matrix representation of this operator is also Hermitian. The use of such basis is consistent with the Schwinger variational principle because the Lippmann-Schwinger equation automatically builds in the correct boundary conditions. Otherwise, an auxiliary condition needs to be introduced, and Takatsuka and McKoy's original value of a is one of the three possible ways to achieve Hermiticity. In all cases but one, a can be uncoupled from the Hermiticity condition and becomes a free parameter. An equation for a based on the variational stability of the scattering amplitude is derived; its solution has an interesting property that the scattering amplitude from a converged SMC calculation is independent of the choice of a even though the SMC operator itself is a-dependent. This property provides a sensitive test of the convergence of the calculation. For a static-exchange calculation, the convergence requirement only depends on the completeness of the one-electron basis, but for a general multichannel case, the a-invariance in the scattering amplitude requires both the one-electron basis and the N plus 1-electron basis to be complete. The role of a in the SMC equation and the convergence property are illustrated using two examples: e-CO elastic scattering in the static-exchange approximation, and a two-state treatment of the e-H2 Chi(sup 1)Sigma(sub g)(+) yields b(sup 3)Sigma(sub u)(+) excitation.

Weatherford, Charles A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The large discretization step method for time-dependent partial differential equations

A new method for the acceleration of linear and nonlinear time dependent calculations is presented. It is based on the Large Discretization Step (LDS) approximation, defined in this work, which employs an extended system of low accuracy schemes to approximate a high accuracy discrete approximation to a time dependent differential operator. Error bounds on such approximations are derived. These approximations are efficiently implemented in the LDS methods for linear and nonlinear hyperbolic equations, presented here. In these algorithms the high and low accuracy schemes are interpreted as the same discretization of a time dependent operator on fine and coarse grids, respectively. Thus, a system of correction terms and corresponding equations are derived and solved on the coarse grid to yield the fine grid accuracy. These terms are initialized by visiting the fine grid once in many coarse grid time steps. The resulting methods are very general, simple to implement and may be used to accelerate many existing time marching schemes.

Haras, Zigo↗
NASA NTRS2008

Simulation of Stochastic Processes by Coupled ODE-PDE

A document discusses the emergence of randomness in solutions of coupled, fully deterministic ODE-PDE (ordinary differential equations-partial differential equations) due to failure of the Lipschitz condition as a new phenomenon. It is possible to exploit the special properties of ordinary differential equations (represented by an arbitrarily chosen, dynamical system) coupled with the corresponding Liouville equations (used to describe the evolution of initial uncertainties in terms of joint probability distribution) in order to simulate stochastic processes with the proscribed probability distributions. The important advantage of the proposed approach is that the simulation does not require a random-number generator.

Zak, Michail↗
NASA NTRS1968

Solution of differential equations by application of transformation groups

Report applies transformation groups to the solution of systems of ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations. Lies theorem finds an integrating factor for appropriate invariance group or groups can be found and can be extended to partial differential equations.

Driskell, C. N., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Dual characterizations of optimal systems.

The complementary variational principle developed in a Hilbert space setting provides a duality principle in the calculus of variations with dynamic constraints. This concept is adopted in this paper to investigate dual characterizations of optimal control systems. Systems under consideration include those with dynamics governed by linear ordinary differential equations, linear partial differential equations and non-linear ordinary differential equations.

Chan, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Topics in spectral methods

After detailing the construction of spectral approximations to time-dependent mixed initial boundary value problems, a study is conducted of differential equations of the form 'partial derivative of u/partial derivative of t = Lu + f', where for each t, u(t) belongs to a Hilbert space such that u satisfies homogeneous boundary conditions. For the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that L is an unbounded, time-independent linear operator. Attention is given to Fourier methods of both Galerkin and pseudospectral method types, the Galerkin method, the pseudospectral Chebyshev and Legendre methods, the error equation, hyperbolic partial differentiation equations, and time discretization and iterative methods.

Gottlieb, D.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The modified equation approach to the stability and accuracy analysis of finite-difference methods

The stability and accuracy of finite-difference approximations to simple linear partial differential equations are analyzed by studying the modified partial differential equation. Aside from round-off error, the modified equation represents the actual partial differential equation solved when a numerical solution is computed using a finite-difference equation. The modified equation is derived by first expanding each term of a difference scheme in a Taylor series and then eliminating time derivatives higher than first order by certain algebraic manipulations. The connection between 'heuristic' stability theory based on the modified equation approach and the von Neumann (Fourier) method is established. In addition to the determination of necessary and sufficient conditions for computational stability, a truncated version of the modified equation can be used to gain insight into the nature of both dissipative and dispersive errors.

Warming, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Relaxation methods in fluid mechanics

The present work considers the iterative solution of a coupled set of difference equations and examines methods that carry successive approximates to a state that is invariant with further iteration and independent of the initial guess. Methods are studied with regard to their efficiency and economy of computer resources. The basic principles of classical relaxation are set forth, with attention confined to linear elliptic equations. This discussion involves the evaluation of the spectral radius that is the magnitude of the eigenvalue with largest modulus. The subject of relaxation is then related to the study of ordinary differential equations and hyperbolic partial differential equations. Problems that occur when linearly dependent eigenvectors appear in the relaxation matrix are discussed, leading to multiply connected eigenvalues in the Jordan canonical form. Finally, a brief survey of relaxation methods used in aerodynamics is given.

Lomax, H.↗