Linearly and nonlinearly optimized weighted essentially non-oscillatory methods for compressible turbulence

Weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) methods have been developed to simultaneously provide robust shock-capturing in compressible fluid flow and avoid excessive damping of fine-scale flow features such as turbulence. This is accomplished by constructing multiple candidate numerical stencils that adaptively combine so as to provide high order of accuracy and high bandwidth-resolving efficiency in continuous flow regions while averting instability-provoking interpolation across discontinuities. Under certain conditions in compressible turbulence, however, numerical dissipation remains unacceptably high even after optimization of the linear optimal stencil combination that dominates in smooth regions. The remaining nonlinear error arises from two primary sources: (i) the smoothness measurement that governs the application of adaptation away from the optimal stencil and (ii) the numerical properties of individual candidate stencils that govern numerical accuracy when adaptation engages. In this work, both of these sources are investigated, and corrective modifications to the WENO methodology are proposed and evaluated.; Excessive nonlinear error due to the first source is alleviated through two separately considered procedures appended to the standard smoothness measurement technique that are designated the "relative smoothness limiter" and the "relative total variation limiter." In theory, appropriate values of their associated parameters should be insensitive to flow configuration, thereby sidestepping the prospect of costly parameter tuning; and this expectation of broad effectiveness is assessed in direct numerical simulations (DNS) of one-dimensional inviscid test problems, three-dimensional compressible isotropic turbulence of varying Reynolds and turbulent Mach numbers, and shock/isotropic-turbulence interaction (SITI). In the process, tools for efficiently comparing WENO adaptation behavior in smooth versus shock-containing regions are developed. The smoothness limiter is found to produce excellent results in the inviscid problems and isotropic turbulence; the total variation limiter is found to produce fair results in these configurations; and both limiters are found, rightly, to produce ambiguous results in SITI. In addition, the WENO methodology is demonstrated to exhibit a "synchronization deficiency" categorizable under the second source of nonlinear error that interferes with the expression of theoretically predicted bandwidth-resolving characteristics when adaptation is engaged. Corrective modifications are attempted but face significant obstacles to practical implementation.