Development of a Lagrangian Particle Tracking Method for High-Order Discontinuous Galerkin Schemes

Abstract

This paper discusses the development of a Lagrangian particle method in a discontinuous Galerkin framework to support supersonic dusty flow simulations. This is relevant to reentry flows in the Mars atmosphere, which is characterized by the presence of a large number of suspended dust particles. These dust particles can not only enhance erosion of thermal protection systems but also transfer energy and momentum to the shock layer, increasing surface heat fluxes. This works represents a first step towards enabling high-fidelity simulations of high-speed flows in dusty environments using discontinuous Galerkin methods. Two-way coupling between the carrier and disperse phases is considered, and difficulties associated with searching for and locating particles in unstructured grids with curved elements are addressed. The particle method is applied to a number of test cases, including supersonic flows over a flat plate and a circular cylinder.