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We study discretizations of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, written in the newly developed energy–momentum–angular momentum conserving (EMAC) formulation. We consider linearizations of the problem, which at each time step will reduce the computational cost, but can alter the conservation properties. We show that a skew-symmetrized linearization delivers the correct balance of (only) energy and that the Newton linearization conserves momentum and angular momentum, but conserves energy only up to the nonlinear residual. Numerical tests show that linearizing with 2 Newton steps at each time step is very effective at preserving all conservation laws at once, and giving accurate answers on long time intervals. The tests also show that the skew-symmetrized linearization is significantly less accurate. The tests also show that the Newton linearization of EMAC finite element formulation compares favorably to other traditionally used finite element formulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in primitive variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geodynamic simulations increasingly rely on models with a true free surface to investigate questions of dynamic topography, tectonic deformation, gravity perturbations, and global mantle convection. However, implementations of free surface boundary conditions have proven challenging from a standpoint of accuracy, robustness, and stability. In particular, time integration of a free surface tends to suffer from a numerical instability that manifests as sloshing surface motions, also known as the “drunken sailor” instability. This instability severely limits stable timestep sizes to those much smaller than can be used in geodynamic simulations without a free surface. Several schemes have been proposed in the literature to deal with these instabilities. Here we analyze the problem of creeping viscous flow with a free surface and discuss the origin of these instabilities. We demonstrate their cause and how existing stabilization schemes work to damp them out. We also propose a new scheme for removing instabilities from free surface calculations. It does not require modifications to the system matrix, nor additional variables, but is instead an explicit scheme based on nonstandard finite differences. It relies on a single stabilization parameter which may be identified with the smallest relaxation timescale of the free surface. Finally, we present numerical results to show the effectiveness of the new approach and discuss the free surface implementation in the open source, community based mantle convection software ASPECT . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

deal.II is a state-of-the-art finite element library focused on generality, dimension-independent programming, parallelism, and extensibility. Herein, we outline its primary design considerations and its sophisticated features such as distributed meshes, h p -adaptivity, support for complex geometries, and matrix-free algorithms. But deal.II is more than just a software library: It is also a diverse and worldwide community of developers and users, as well as an educational platform. We therefore also discuss some of the technical and social challenges and lessons learned in running a large community software project over the course of two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]