This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Pont, A., Codina, R., and Baiges, J. (2017) Interpolation with restrictions between finite element meshes for flow problems in an ALE setting. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng, 110: 1203–1226. doi: 10.1002/nme.5444.], which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nme.5444/abstract. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

The need for remeshing when computing flow problems in domains suffering large deformations has motivated the implementation of a tool that allows the proper transmission of information between finite element meshes. Because the Lagrangian projection of results from one mesh to another is a dissipative method, a new conservative interpolation method has been developed. A series of constraints, such as the conservation of mass or energy, are applied to the interpolated arrays through Lagrange multipliers in an error minimization problem, so that the resulting array satisfies these physical properties while staying as close as possible to the original interpolated values in the L2 norm. Unlike other conservative interpolation methods that require a considerable effort in mesh generation and modification, the proposed formulation is mesh independent and is only based on the physical properties of the field being interpolated. Moreover, the performed corrections are neither coupled with the main calculation nor with the interpolation itself, for which reason the computational cost is very low.

Peer Reviewed