Fast-Converging and Asymptotic-Preserving DSMC

TL;DR

This paper introduces the DIG scheme for DSMC that achieves rapid, asymptotic-preserving convergence to steady states in multiscale flows, significantly improving efficiency over traditional methods especially in near-continuum regimes.

Contribution

The paper provides a mathematical analysis of DIG's properties and demonstrates its superior efficiency and accuracy in simulating multiscale flows compared to traditional DSMC.

Findings

DIG asymptotically recovers Navier-Stokes equations in near continuum regimes

Deviation from steady state reduces by over five times after one DIG cycle

DIG is two orders of magnitude faster than traditional DSMC at Kn=0.01

Abstract

Improving the efficiency of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method has become increasingly urgent with the rapid development of space exploration. To address this issue, the direct intermittent general synthetic iteration (DIG) scheme has recently been proposed to enable DSMC's rapid and accurate convergence to steady-state solutions, even when the cell size is much larger than the mean free path in near-continuum flow regimes. The first part of the paper is devoted to the mathematical analysis of DIG's fast-converging and asymptotic-preserving properties. Because the Boltzmann equation is analytically intractable, the analysis is conducted using the linearized BGK model. It is found that, in the near continuum flow regime, the DIG method asymptotically recovers the Navier Stokes equations when the cell size is O(1), rather than being constrained by the mean free path. Moreover, after a single cycle of DIG evolution, the deviation from the final steady state solution is reduced by more than a factor of five. In the second part of the paper, the Poiseuille flow and hypersonic flow passing over cylinder are investigated using the DIG scheme, with different time step and cell sizes, thereby demonstrating its efficiency and accuracy in multiscale flow simulation. Specifically, when the Knudsen number is 0.01, the DIG method is found to be faster than the traditional DSMC method by two orders of magnitude. The performance gain becomes even greater at smaller Knudsen numbers. The proposed method holds great potential for engineering applications.