High-order (hybridized) discontinuous Galerkin method for geophysical flows

As computational research has grown, simulation has become a standard tool in many fields of academic and industrial areas. For example, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools in aerospace and research facilities are widely used to evaluate the aerodynamic performance of aircraft or wings. Weather forecasts are highly dependent on numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. However, it is still difficult to simulate the complex physical phenomena of a wide range of length and time scales with modern computational resources. In this study, we develop a robust, efficient and high-order accurate numerical methods and techniques to tackle the challenges. First, we use high-order spatial discretization using (hybridized) discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods. The DG method combines the advantages of finite volume and finite element methods. As such, it is well-suited to problems with large gradients including shocks and with complex geometries, and large-scale simulations. However, DG typically has many degrees-of-freedoms. To mitigate the expense, we use hybridized DG (HDG) method that introduces new “trace unknowns” on the mesh skeleton (mortar interfaces) to eliminate the local “volume unknowns” with static condensation procedure and reduces globally coupled system when implicit time-stepping is required. Also, since the information between the elements is exchanged through the mesh skeleton, the mortar interfaces can be used as a glue to couple multi-phase regions, e.g., solid and fluid regions, or non-matching grids, e.g., a rotating mesh and a stationary mesh. That is the HDG method provides an efficient and flexible coupling environment compared to standard DG methods. Second, we develop an HDG-DG IMEX scheme for an efficient time integrating scheme. The idea is to divide the governing equations into stiff and nonstiff parts, implicitly treat the former with HDG methods, and explicitly treat the latter with DG methods. The HDG-DG IMEX scheme facilitates high-order temporal and spatial solutions, avoiding too small a time step. Numerical results show that the HDG-DG IMEX scheme is comparable to an explicit Runge-Kutta DG scheme in terms of accuracy while allowing for much larger timestep sizes. We also numerically observe that IMEX HDG-DG scheme can be used as a tool to suppress the high-frequency modes such as acoustic waves or fast gravity waves in atmospheric or ocean models. In short, IMEX HDG-DG methods are attractive for applications in which a fast and stable solution is important while permitting inaccurate processing of the fast modes. Third, we also develop an EXPONENTIAL DG scheme for an efficient time integrators. Similar to the IMEX method, the governing equations are separated into linear and nonlinear parts, then the two parts are spatially discretized with DG methods. Next, we analytically integrate the linear term and approximate the nonlinear term with respect to time. This method accurately handles the fast wave modes in the linear operator. To efficiently evaluate a matrix exponential, we employ the cutting-edge adaptive Krylov subspace method. Finally, we develop a sliding-mesh interface by combining nonconforming treatment and the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) scheme for simulating rotating flows, which are important to estimate the characteristics of a rotating wind turbine or understanding vortical structures shown in atmospheric or astronomical phenomena. To integrate the rotating motion of the domain, we use the ALE formulation to map the governing equation to the stationary reference domain and introduce mortar interfaces between the stationary mesh and the rotating mesh. The mortar structure on the sliding interface changes dynamically as the mesh rotatesEngineering Mechanic