Seminars & Events

Mathematics and Computer Science Division
"Designing a glass-box, PDE-based coupled multiphysics framework"

DATE: January 8, 2012 to January 8, 2012
TIME: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
SPEAKER: Vijay Mahadevan, Postdoc
LOCATION: Building 240, Conferene Room 1416, Argonne National Laboratory
HOST: Tim Tautges

Description:
High fidelity mathematical and computer modeling of coupled multiphysics
problems require solutions to large systems of stiff, nonlinear, coupled
equations. ’Black-box’ coupling strategies introduce several sources of
error in the solution fields stemming from inaccurate and in some cases
inconsistent treatment of the spatio-temporal nonlinear coupling terms.
Choosing the right software and algorithmic options to resolve the inaccuracies
are usually physics and problem dependent and hence a multiphysics framework
needs to encompass several coupling schemes with varying stability and accuracy
traits to solve dependent systems in order to analyze, compare and choose
an optimal strategy. The schemes for solving the coupled systems are similar
in principle for most approaches and with reusable design principles, accurate
resolution of the spatio-temporal scales are possible. Different methodologies
and the relevant numerics that are commonly employed for bringing together various
physics components will be explored.

Finally, details of a coupling framework in development based on PETSc and MOAB
libraries, CouPE (Coupled Physics Environment), for driving existing high-fidelity
validated physics codes will be provided whose design aims to obtain tightly-coupled
physical solutions by employing loosely-coupled software interfaces. Some relevant
results obtained from nuclear engineering and radiation-diffusion problems with
CouPE will be shown. The talk will conclude with proposed enhancements to such a
glass-box framework to make it amenable to couple both existing and new physics solvers.

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