High-Order Finite Element Method for Plasma Modeling*
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HIGH-ORDER FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR PLASMA MODELING* U. Shumlak, R. Lilly, S. Miller, N. Reddell, E. Sousa Aerospace and Energetics Research Program University of Washington, Seattle, USA, 98195-2250 Email: [email protected] Abstract—High-order accurate finite element methods provide description. Plasmas may be most accurately modeled using unique benefits for problems that have strong anisotropies and kinetic theory, where distribution functions, fs(x; v; t), are complicated geometries and for stiff equation systems that are governed by a Boltzmann equation coupled through large source terms, e.g. Lorentz force, collisions, @f @f q @f @f or atomic reactions. Magnetized plasma simulations of realistic s + v · s + s (E + v × B) · s = s (1) devices using the kinetic or the multi-fluid plasma models are @t @x ms @v @t collisions examples that benefit from high-order accuracy. The multi-fluid plasma model only assumes local thermodynamic equilibrium for each species s, e.g. ions, electrons, neutrals. Combined within each fluid, e.g. ion and electron fluids for the two- with Maxwell’s equations, the system leads to the continuum fluid plasma model. The algorithm implements a discontinu- kinetic plasma model, as well as the particle kinetic plasma ous Galerkin method with an approximate Riemann solver to model. Kinetic models, in their most general form, are six- compute the fluxes of the fluids and electromagnetic fields at dimensional, but reduced models with limited dimensionality the computational cell interfaces. The multi-fluid plasma model can also be meaningful, e.g. gyrokinetic. Further reduced has time scales on the order of the electron and ion cyclotron plasma models result by taking moments over velocity space frequencies, the electron and ion plasma frequencies, the electron of Eq. (1) and of f , which gives the multi-fluid plasma model. and ion sound speeds, and the speed of light. A general model s for atomic reactions has been developed and is incorporated in [1] the multi-fluid plasma model. The multi-fluid plasma algorithm The principal variables for each species of the multi- is implemented in a flexible code framework (WARPX) that fluid plasma model are derived by computing moments of the allows easy extension of the physical model to include multiple distribution functions. fluids and additional physics. The code runs on multi-processor Z machines and is being adapted with OpenCL to many-core ρ =m f (v)dv (2) systems, characteristic of the next generation of high performance s s s computers. The algorithm is applicable to study advanced physics Z calculations of plasma dynamics including magnetic plasma con- ρsus =ms vfs(v)dv (3) finement and astrophysical plasmas. The discontinuous Galerkin Z method has also been applied to solve the Vlasov-Poisson kinetic P =m wwf (v)dv (4) model. Recently, a blended finite element algorithm has been s s s developed and implemented which exploits the expected physical Z behavior to apply either a discontinuous or continuous finite Hs =ms wwwfs(v)dv (5) element representation, which improves computational efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. The 5M model directly evolves the variables given by Eqs. (2,3) and the tensor contraction of Eq. (4), Z I. INTRODUCTION 1 2 ps = ρsTs = ms w fs(v)dv; (6) Owing to the complexity of plasma phenomena, a thorough 3 understanding requires validated physical models, verified where Ts is the temperature. The 13M model [2] directly computational simulations, and well-diagnosed experiments. evolves the variables given by Eqs. (2,3,4), and the tensor This paper focuses on developing computational methods for contraction of Eq. (5), plasma models with sufficient physical and numerical fidelity 1 Z to generate insight and predictability. h = m w2wf (v)dv (7) s 2 s s II. CONTINUUM PLASMA MODELS The system of moment equations is truncated, retaining only variables with a physical meaning. Higher moment variables Discrete models that account for each constituent particle that appear in the evolution equation are related to lower are not particularly useful for the numerical treatment of realis- moment variables. tic plasmas where the number of particles (N) and the number of interactions (> N 2) are not computationally tractable. The multiple fluids are coupled to each other and to the Instead an ensemble average is performed to give a statistical electromagnetic fields through Maxwell’s equations and inter- action source terms, such as the Lorentz force. Including elastic *This work is supported by a grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of scattering and reacting collisions (e.g. ionization, recombina- Scientific Research. tion, charge exchange) introduces additional source terms that TABLE I. TYPICAL TIME SCALES (IN SECONDS) FOR LABORATORY AND IONOSPHERIC PLASMAS SHOWING THE LARGE SEPARATION. Laboratory FRC Ionosphere F Region −14 −8 1=!pe 5 × 10 6 × 10 L=c 3 × 10−9 7 × 10−2 −8 −3 1=!ci 10 4 × 10 −5 1 L=vA 10 3 × 10 −5 4 L=vT i 4 × 10 10 −3 5 τeq 10 10 couple the fluids. For example, the governing equations for the electron fluid for an interacting three-fluid model (electron, ion, Fig. 1. Schematic representation of a discontinuous, high-order solution neutral) is given by within each element Ω having continuous fluxes. @ρ e + r · (ρ u ) = m Γion − m Γrec (8) @t e e e i e n benefit from high-order accuracy. The general approach of @ρeue ie en FE methods expands the solution vector using a set of basis + r · (ρeueue + peI + Πe) = −Ri + Re functions, vk(r). @t (9) ρee ion rec X − (E + ue × B) + meunΓi − meueΓn q(r) = qkvk(r) (13) me @" k e + r · (((" + p ) I + Π ) · u + h ) = Qie + Qen @t e e e e e e e The governing equation is then projected onto test functions using a Galerkin method as rec me ion ρee ie en −Qe + Qn − ue · E + Ri − Re Z Z Z mn me @q vk dV + vkr · FdV = vkSdV (14) 1 2 rec 1 2 ion Ω @t Ω Ω − meve Γn + mevn − φion Γi 2 2 where an integral equation is generated for each basis (test) (10) function. Integrating by parts and applying the divergence where the source and sink rates are computed by the appro- theorem gives priate convolution integrals, such as the ion source rate from Z @q I Z Z electron impact ionization with neutrals vk dV + vkF·dS− F·rvkdV = vkSdV (15) Ω @t @Ω Ω Ω Z Z Γion = f (v0) f (v)σ (jv − v0j) jv − v0j dvdv0: This equation is valid in general but is inconvenient for realistic i n e ion domains with complicated geometries. Instead, the domain is (11) divided into finite elements, and the integral equation is applied See Ref. [3] for the details of the 5M multi-fluid plasma model. to each element with some assumption of continuity at the Additional moment models can be found in Refs. [4]–[7]. element boundaries. The governing equations for the 5M or 13M model can be If the solution is assumed to be continuous (C0), the fluxes expressed in balance law form as are automatically continuous, and the result is the usual finite element method. During assembly of the global system for the @ Ω q + r · F = S; (12) simultaneous solution for all qk , the surface integral term in @t Eq. (15) cancels everywhere except at the domain boundaries. where q is the vector of conserved variables, F is the flux Volume integrals are evaluated by quadrature. The continuous tensor, and S is vector of source terms. Combining the fluid FE method works well for many elliptic and parabolic systems eigenvalues computed from the flux Jacobian (@F =@Q) with on complicated geometries; however, spurious oscillations can the characteristics of Maxwell’s equations and of the source occur at discontinuities (shocks) for hyperbolic systems, which terms provides the characteristic speeds and frequencies, and means the method is not suitable for many plasma simulations. thereby the time scales given by the plasma model. Table I shows typical values for a laboratory FRC plasma and an If the solution is allowed to be discontinuous, but with ionospheric plasma in the F region. The large separation of the continuous fluxes, which is the only feature required by the physical time scales makes the equation system mathematically conservation law, the resulting finite element system is the stiff, which can complicate an accurate numerical solution. discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method. [8], [9] See Fig. 1 for a schematic representation of the DG method. Fluxes in the surface integral term in Eq. (15) are evaluated using an upwind III. FINITE ELEMENT METHODS method such as an approximate Riemann solver [4], [10] with Finite element (FE) methods offer high-order spatial accu- solution values on either side of the interface. racy in an unsplit approach that tightly couples the flux and 1 1 X F = F+ + F− − l q+ − q− jλ j r (16) source terms in Eq. (12). High-order accurate FE methods are @Ω 2 2 k k k appropriate for problems that have strong anisotropies, com- k plicated geometries, or stiff governing equations. Magnetized Limiting is accomplished by locally reducing the expansion plasma simulations of realistic devices using the continuum order. Time is advanced using a Runge-Kutta method, for kinetic or the multi-fluid plasma models are examples that example the third-order, TVD method. [11] of 106. The effect has been investigated using a high-order finite element method to solve the anisotropic heat conduction equation. @T + r · (−D · rT ) = 0 (18) @t where D = Djj(x; y; z) + D?(x; y; z). The problem is ini- tialized in 3D with a Gaussian temperature profile aligned with a toroidal magnetic field.