Resolving mixing in smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Read, J I; Hayfield, T; Agertz, O (2010). Resolving mixing in smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 405(3):1513-1530.

Abstract

Standard formulations of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) are unable to resolve mixing at fluid boundaries. We use an error and stability analysis of the generalized SPH equations of motion to prove that this is due to two distinct problems. The first is a leading order error in the momentum equation. This should decrease with an increasing neighbour number, but does not because numerical instabilities cause the kernel to be irregularly sampled. We identify two important instabilities: the clumping instability and the banding instability, and we show that both are cured by a suitable choice of kernel. The second problem is the local mixing instability (LMI). This occurs as particles attempt to mix on the kernel scale, but are unable to due to entropy conservation. The result is a pressure discontinuity at boundaries that pushes fluids of different entropies apart. We cure the LMI by using a weighted density estimate that ensures that pressures are single-valued throughout the flow. This also gives a better volume estimate for the particles, reducing errors in the continuity and momentum equations. We demonstrate mixing in our new optimized smoothed particle hydrodynamics (OSPH) scheme using a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) test with a density contrast of 1:2, and the blob test' - a 1:10 density ratio gas sphere in a wind tunnel - finding excellent agreement between OSPH and Eulerian codes.

Abstract

Standard formulations of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) are unable to resolve mixing at fluid boundaries. We use an error and stability analysis of the generalized SPH equations of motion to prove that this is due to two distinct problems. The first is a leading order error in the momentum equation. This should decrease with an increasing neighbour number, but does not because numerical instabilities cause the kernel to be irregularly sampled. We identify two important instabilities: the clumping instability and the banding instability, and we show that both are cured by a suitable choice of kernel. The second problem is the local mixing instability (LMI). This occurs as particles attempt to mix on the kernel scale, but are unable to due to entropy conservation. The result is a pressure discontinuity at boundaries that pushes fluids of different entropies apart. We cure the LMI by using a weighted density estimate that ensures that pressures are single-valued throughout the flow. This also gives a better volume estimate for the particles, reducing errors in the continuity and momentum equations. We demonstrate mixing in our new optimized smoothed particle hydrodynamics (OSPH) scheme using a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) test with a density contrast of 1:2, and the blob test' - a 1:10 density ratio gas sphere in a wind tunnel - finding excellent agreement between OSPH and Eulerian codes.

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Item Type: Journal Article, refereed, original work 07 Faculty of Science > Institute for Computational Science 530 Physics Physical Sciences > Astronomy and Astrophysics Physical Sciences > Space and Planetary Science English July 2010 02 Mar 2011 15:03 29 Jul 2020 23:52 Wiley-Blackwell 0035-8711 The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com Hybrid https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16577.x http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.0774

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