Conservativeness, discretization

In computational fluid dynamics only the last two methods have been extensively implemented into commercial flow solvers. Especially for CFD problems the FVM has proven robust and stable, and as a conservative discretization scheme it has some built-in mechanism of error avoidance. For this reason, many of the leading commercially available CFD tools, such as CFX4/5, Fluent and Star-CD, are based on the FVM. The oufline on CFD given in this book wiU be based on this method however, certain parts of the discussion also apply to the other two methods. 

Via Eq. (136) the kinematic condition Eq. (131) is fulfilled automatically. Furthermore, a conservative discretization of the transport equation such as achieved with the FVM method guarantees local mass conservation for the two phases separately. With a description based on the volume fraction fimction, the two fluids can be regarded as a single fluid with spatially varying density and viscosity, according to... 

In finite-volume methods, the integral formulation of the conservation laws over a small physical control volume is discretized directly. FVM employs a conservative discretization, that is, each species is guaranteed to be conserved, even for coarse meshes. In contrast, many traditional FDMs are not conservative. For example, owing to the nonlinear nature of the constitutive flux equations of ionic species in an a priori unknown electric field, FDM is nonconservative, even when constant physical... 

This means that the discrete solution nearly conserves the Hamiltonian H and, thus, conserves H up to 0 t ). If H is analytic, then the truncation index N in (2) is arbitrary. In general, however, the above formal series diverges as jV —> 00. The term exponentially close may be specified by the following theorem. 

This section deals with the question of how to approximate the essential features of the flow for given energy E. Recall that the flow conserves energy, i.e., it maps the energy surface Pq E) = x e P H x) = E onto itself. In the language of statistical physics, we want to approximate the microcanonical ensemble. However, even for a symplectic discretization, the discrete flow / = (i/i ) does not conserve energy exactly, but only on... 

J. C. Simo and N. Tarnow. The discrete energy-momentum method. Conserving algorithms for nonlinear elastodynamics. ZAMP, 43 757-793, 1992. 

Unfortunately, discretization methods with large step sizes applied to such problems tend to miss this additional force term [3]. Furthermore, even if the implicit midpoint method is applied to a formulation in local coordinates, similar problems occur [3]. Since the midpoint scheme and its variants (6) and (7) are basically identical in local coordinates, the same problem can be expected for the energy conserving method (6). To demonstrate this, let us consider the following modified model problem [13] ... 

Several discrete forms of the conservation of momentum equation, (9.3), can be derived, depending on the type of mesh and underlying assumptions. As an example, assume the equation will be solved on staggered spatial and temporal meshes, in two dimensions, in rectangular geometry, and with the velocities located at the nodes. Assume one quarter of the mass from each adjacent element is associated with the staggered element as shown in Fig. 9.11. 

Table 3.3 summarizes the history of the development of wave-profile measurement devices as they have developed since the early period. The devices are categorized in terms of the kinetic or kinematic parameter actually measured. From the table it should be noted that the earliest devices provided measurements of displacement versus time in either a discrete or continuous mode. The data from such measurements require differentiation to relate them to shock-conservation relations, and, unless constant pressures or particle velocities are involved, considerable accuracy can be lost in data processing. 

Having thus established at least a formal equivalency between a discretized field theory on a lattice and CA, Svozil invokes the so-called no-go theorem to show that field theory cannot be discretized in this simple fashion. The no-go theorem (see [karstSl] and [nielSl]) states essentially that under a set of only mild assumptions it is impossible to formulate a local, unitary, charge conserving lattice held theory without effectively doubling the size of the predicted fermion population (i.e. species doubling see discussion box). 

The first equation gives the diserete version of Newton s equation the second equation gives energy c onservation. We make two comments (1) Notice that while energy eouseivation is a natural consequence of Newton s equation in continuum mechanics, it becomes an independent property of the system in Lee s discrete mechanics (2) If time is treated as a conventional parameter and not as a dynamical variable, the discretized system is not tiine-translationally invariant and energy is not conserved. Making both and t , dynamical variables is therefore one way to sidestep this problem. 

There are two levels, discrete particle level and continuum level, for describing and modeling of the macroscopic behaviors of dilute and condensed matters. The physics laws concerning the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy in motion, are common to both levels. For simple dilute gases, the Boltzmann equation, as shown below, provides the governing equation of gas dynamics on the discrete particle level... 

From a physical point of view, the finite difference method is mostly based based on the further replacement of a continuous medium by its discrete model. Adopting those ideas, it is natural to require that the principal characteristics of a physical process should be in full force. Such characteristics are certainly conservation laws. Difference schemes, which express various conservation laws on grids, are said to be conservative or divergent. For conservative schemes the relevant conservative laws in the entire grid domain (integral conservative laws) do follow as an algebraic corollary to difference equations. 

A large number of discrete, highly conserved, and small stable RNA species are found in eukaryotic cells. The majority of these molecules are complexed with proteins to form ribonucleoproteins and are distributed in the nucleus, in the cytoplasm, or in both. They range in... 

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