17. Adaptivity

Adaptivity is supported through usage of the Percept module. However, this code base has not yet been deployed to the open sector. As such, ifdef guards are placed within the code base. A variety of choices exist for the manner by which hanging nodes are removed in a vertex-centered code base.

A typical h-adapted patch of elements is shown in Figure 17.1. The “hanging nodes” do not have control volumes associated with them. Rather, they are constrained to be a linear combination of the two parent edge nodes. There is no element assembly procedure to compute fluxes for the “hanging sub-faces” associated with the hanging nodes that occur along the parent-child element boundary.

17.1 Control volume definition on an h-adapted mesh with hanging nodes. (Four-patch of parent elements with refinement in bottom-right element.)

In general, for a vertex-centered scheme, the h-adaptive scheme is driven at the element level. Refinement occurs within the element and the topology of refined elements is the same as the parent element.

Aftosmis [Aft94] describes a vertex-centered finite-volume scheme on unstructured Cartesian meshes. A transitional set of control volumes are formed about the hanging nodes, shown in Figure 17.2. on unstructured meshes. This approach would require a series of specialized master elements to deal with the different transition possibilities.

17.2 Control volume definition on an h-adapted mesh with transition control volumes about the hanging nodes. (Four-patch of parent elements with refinement in bottom-right element.)

Kallinderis [KB89] describes a vertex-centered finite-volume scheme on unstructured quad meshes. Hanging nodes are treated with a constraint condition. The flux construction for a node on a refinement boundary is based on the unrefined parent elements, leading to a non-conservative scheme.

Kallinderis [KV93] also describes a vertex-centered finite-volume scheme on unstructured tetrahedral meshes. Hanging nodes are removed by splitting the elements on the “unrefined” side of the refinement boundary. Mavriplis [Mav00] uses a similar technique, however, extends it to a general set of heterogeneous elements, shown in Figure 17.3.

17.3 Control volume definition on a heterogeneous h-adapted mesh with no hanging nodes. (Four-patch of parent elements with refinement in bottom-right element and splitting in adjacent parent elements.)

The future deployment of Percept will use the procedure of Mavriplis whereby hanging nodes are removed by neighbor topological changes. A variety of error indicators exists and a prototyped error transport equation appraoch for the one-equation \(k^{sgs}\) model has been tested for classic jet-in-crossflow configurations.

17.1. Prolongation and Restriction

Nodal variables are interpolated between levels of the h-adapted mesh hierarchy using the traditional prolongation and restriction operators defined over an element. The prolongation operation is used to compute values for new nodes that arise from element sub-division. The parent element shape functions are used to interpolate values from the parent nodes to the sub-divided nodes.

Prolongation and restriction operators for element variables and face variables are required to maintain mass flow rates that satisfy continuity. When adaptivity takes place, a code option to reconstruct the mass flow rates must be used. Whether or not a Poisson system must be created has been explored. More work is required to understand the nuances associated with prolongation, specifically with respect to possible dispersion errors.