Session #3 Abstracts

Towards Mesh Refinement (MR) and Particle-in-cell (PIC) for Plasma Simulation II

Bei Wang, G. Miller, P. Colella

We seek to improve the accuracy of uniform grid PIC methods for plasma simulation by applying MR techniques. The development of the new method consists of two separate, but closely related parts: solving the Poisson equation with infinite-domain boundary conditions on non-uniform grids, and charge deposition and field interpolation PIC methods for non-uniform grids.

We have solved the Poisson equation on non-uniform grids with infinite-domain boundary conditions using the James-Lackner boundary potential method. Our implementation uses Chombo, a C++ library to facilitate solution of partial differential equations with finite volume methods on a hierarchy of locally refined grids. Our numerical results shown a second-order convergence rate.

Uniform grid PIC algorithms, when applied to non-uniform grids, exhibit a well-known error: charged particles experience a so-called “self-force” due to interaction with their own fields. This self-force is caused by a lack of translation-invariance for the discrete Green’s function in the neighborhood of inter-resolution interfaces on the non-uniform grids. Our approach is based on a modified charge deposition algorithm that has the potential to reduce the self-force error to any specified degree of accuracy. In the modified method, particle charges are deposited using a smoothed delta function convolved with a kernel. The kernel is calculated by applying the MR Poisson operator to the exact Green’s function to offset the translation-invariance error. Analysis and single particle tests have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new method. Unresolved challenges regarding its application to continuous charge distribution problems will be described.

Projector Augmented Wave optimization for large scale ab initio calculation

Ryan Snow, A Wright, C. Fong

Projector Augmented Wave (PAW) parameter sets can be constructed in many ways. Due to a non-local expansion of projectors, the PAW method includes parameters for each angular momentum channel separately. While this gives the flexibility to optimize projectors individually, it also creates an unfathomable parameter space for searching for good parameter sets. To automatically search for good PAW sets, logarithmic derivatives were analyzed numerically for matching with AE logarithmic derivatives. Logarithmic derivative matching, total energy convergence, and scf convergence were used as scores for automatic optimization of ab initio accuracy and speed of PAW parameter sets using a genetic algorithm within an optimization code.
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Scaling Issues in the Monte Carlos Potts Simulation of Abnormal Grain Growth in Iron

Corentin Guebels, T. Tran, B. Fell, J. Groza

The present study introduces a new temporal scaling method that contributes to resolving the typical shortcomings of Monte Carlo Potts (MCP) simulations in the investigation of the conditions and mechanisms that distinguish recrystallization from dynamic abnormal grain growth (DAGG). MCP based models are commonly implemented to simulate microstructural evolution. However, the numerical implementations of recrystallization and other deformation-induced phenomena often elude validation due to the lack of a common temporal scale. The numerical models for recovery, nucleation and recrystallization must be analyzed and verified in order to identify the conditions that initiate or the mechanisms driving DAGG. The proposed temporal scaling method approaches this issue by identifying an energetic relationship during normal grain growth simulations. This energy based relationship creates the temporal scale for subsequent simulations of grain boundary migration during deformation. The applicability of this temporal scaling approach is investigated by considering a simplistic static recrystallization model.

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