Advection solvers
=================
The linear advection equation:
.. math::
a_t + u a_x + v a_y = 0
provides a good basis for understanding the methods used for
compressible hydrodynamics. Chapter 4 of the notes summarizes the
numerical methods for advection that we implement in pyro.
pyro has several solvers for linear advection, which solve the equation
with different spatial and temporal integration schemes.
``advection`` solver
--------------------
:py:mod:`pyro.advection` implements the directionally unsplit corner
transport upwind algorithm :cite:`colella:1990` with piecewise linear reconstruction.
This is an overall second-order accurate method, with timesteps restricted
by
.. math::
\Delta t < \min \left \{ \frac{\Delta x}{|u|}, \frac{\Delta y}{|v|} \right \}
The parameters for this solver are:
.. include:: advection_defaults.inc
``advection_fv4`` solver
------------------------
:py:mod:`pyro.advection_fv4` uses a fourth-order accurate finite-volume
method with RK4 time integration, following the ideas in
:cite:`mccorquodalecolella`. It can be thought of as a
method-of-lines integration, and as such has a slightly more restrictive
timestep:
.. math::
\Delta t \lesssim \left [ \frac{|u|}{\Delta x} + \frac{|v|}{\Delta y} \right ]^{-1}
The main complexity comes from needing to average the flux over the
faces of the zones to achieve 4th order accuracy spatially.
The parameters for this solver are:
.. include:: advection_fv4_defaults.inc
``advection_nonuniform`` solver
-------------------------------
:py:mod:`pyro.advection_nonuniform` models advection with a non-uniform
velocity field. This is used to implement the slotted disk problem
from :cite:`ZALESAK1979335`. The basic method is similar to the
algorithm used by the main ``advection`` solver.
The parameters for this solver are:
.. include:: advection_nonuniform_defaults.inc
``advection_rk`` solver
-----------------------
:py:mod:`pyro.advection_rk` uses a method of lines time-integration
approach with piecewise linear spatial reconstruction for linear
advection. This is overall second-order accurate, so it represents a
simpler algorithm than the ``advection_fv4`` method (in particular, we
can treat cell-centers and cell-averages as the same, to second
order).
The parameter for this solver are:
.. include:: advection_rk_defaults.inc
``advection_weno`` solver
-------------------------
:py:mod:`pyro.advection_weno` uses a WENO reconstruction and method of
lines time-integration
The main parameters that affect this solver are:
.. include:: advection_weno_defaults.inc
General ideas
-------------
The main use for the advection solver is to understand how Godunov
techniques work for hyperbolic problems. These same ideas will be used
in the compressible and incompressible solvers. This video shows
graphically how the basic advection algorithm works, consisting of
reconstruction, evolution, and averaging steps:
.. this comes from https://github.com/rtfd/readthedocs.org/issues/879
.. raw:: html
Examples
--------
smooth
^^^^^^
The smooth problem initializes a Gaussian profile and advects it with
:math:`u = v = 1` through periodic boundaries for a period. The result is that
the final state should be identical to the initial state—any
disagreement is our numerical error. This is run as:
.. prompt:: bash
pyro_sim.py advection smooth inputs.smooth
.. raw:: html
By varying the resolution and comparing to the analytic solution, we
can measure the convergence rate of the method. The ``smooth_error.py``
script in ``analysis/`` will compare an output file to the analytic
solution for this problem.
.. image:: smooth_converge.png
:align: center
The points above are the L2-norm of the absolute error for the smooth
advection problem after 1 period with ``CFL=0.8``, for both the
``advection`` and ``advection_fv4`` solvers. The dashed and dotted
lines show ideal scaling. We see that we achieve nearly 2nd order
convergence for the ``advection`` solver and 4th order convergence
with the ``advection_fv4`` solver. Departures from perfect scaling
are likely due to the use of limiters.
tophat
^^^^^^
The tophat problem initializes a circle in the center of the domain
with value 1, and 0 outside. This has very steep jumps, and the
limiters will kick in strongly here.
Exercises
---------
The best way to learn these methods is to play with them yourself. The
exercises below are suggestions for explorations and features to add
to the advection solver.
Explorations
^^^^^^^^^^^^
* Test the convergence of the solver for a variety of initial
conditions (tophat hat will differ from the smooth case because of
limiting). Test with limiting on and off, and also test with the
slopes set to 0 (this will reduce it down to a piecewise constant
reconstruction method).
* Run without any limiting and look for oscillations and under and
overshoots (does the advected quantity go negative in the tophat
problem?)
Extensions
^^^^^^^^^^
* Implement a dimensionally split version of the advection
algorithm. How does the solution compare between the unsplit and
split versions? Look at the amount of overshoot and undershoot, for
example.
* Research the inviscid Burger's equation—this looks like the
advection equation, but now the quantity being advected is the
velocity itself, so this is a non-linear equation. It is very
straightforward to modify this solver to solve Burger's equation
(the main things that need to change are the Riemann solver and the
fluxes, and the computation of the timestep).
The neat thing about Burger's equation is that it admits shocks and
rarefactions, so some very interesting flow problems can be setup.