Dursi Astro Combustion

Simulating Astrophysical Combustion
with the FLASH code
Jonathan Dursi (and many, many others)

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
University of Toronto
CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

Jonathan Dursi June 19
Outline (Röpke, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)
● Combustion in
Astrophysics
● The FLASH code
● Testing / V&V
● Towards
Multiscale/subgrid
approaches

Combustion in Astrophysics
Vladimirova, FLASH Center
● Almost all astrophysical
systems are fluid
– Hot, dense
● Many interesting
phenomenon involve
energetic phase
transitions -- `burning'
● Some very exotic
– phase transitions in
early universe
– quark-matter
deconfinement (Röpke, Max Planck
Institute for Astrophysics)
● Most systems:
– Burning =
thermonuclear reactions
● Stable burning
(simmering/smouldering):
– Stars like the sun (well-
mixed reactor)
● Explosive burning
(thermonuclear flashes):
– Novae
: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA

– X-Ray Bursts
– Supernovae
● Differences from terrestrial
combustion:
– Thermonuclear
reactions, not chemical
● Fairly minor differences
in behaviour
● Arrhenius-like
(Wikipedia)
● Much simpler
`chemistry'!
– Energetics captured
with ~10 species
● Differences from terrestrial
combustion:
– Equation of State
– (Partially) degenerate
material
Supported by
●
degenerate electron
pressure
– Pressure insensitive to
temperature at high
densities Andrew Truscott & Randall Hulet (Rice U.)
● Explosive burning
Combustion in Astrophysics: Novae
● Burning on surface of white
dwarf
● Accretes matter (hydrogen,
helium) from neighbor
faster then can stably burn
● Burst of convective
burning, lifts accreted
envelope, sends burned
material into surroundings
● Important source of heavy
elements for new stars,
planets
Courtesy Hubble STScI

Combustion in Astrophysics: Novae
● Simulations:
– Unstable burning in
convecting atmosphere
– Burning ~subsonic,
mixes through
atmosphere as it lifts
– Plane-parallel
simulations looking at
little piece of the white
dwarf atmosphere Kercek, Hillebrandt, Truran (1999)
– Mixing into white dwarf

crucial for mechanism
Combustion in Astrophysics: X-Ray Bursts
● Burning on surface of
neutron star
● Higher gravity: higher
densities
● Burning proceeds as
deflagration (detonation?)
● Visible in X-rays from great
distances. Gravity too
Courtesy Chandra X-Ray Observatory strong for important
amounts of ejecta

Combustion in Astrophysics: X-Ray Bursts
● Surface of a large (~30
km) body: can consider
local piece
● Burning propagates
along layer of fuel as
flame or detonation
● Heats, roils atmosphere
● Simulations of large
scale behaviour, small
Zingale, SUNY Stony Brook scale flame/detonation
physics

Combustion in Astrophysics: Supernovae Ia
● White dwarf accretes material
slowly
● Centre gets hotter, denser
● Simmering, rotating -- highly
turbulent
● Burning begins in centre of star
as flame
● Transition to detonation?
● Total incineration of white
Courtesy Hubble STScI
dwarf
● One of largest explosions in
universe
● Basic
combustion
simulations:
– Cellular
detonations in
white dwarfs
– (unburned
pockets
potentially very
interesting in
Type Ia context)

● Effect of strain/curvature on thermonuclear

flame speed (`Markstein Length')
● Large-scale
simulations of
system
– Some assumed
turbulent
burning model

Modeling Combustion in Astrophysics
● Large, small scale simulations
● Turbulent burning, flames,
detonations
● Complex EOS, highly
compressible
● Want code that is
– Robust
– Well-tested methods
– Could scale to masssively
parallel systems

The Flash Code
Shortly: Relativistic accretion onto NS
Flame-vortex interactions
Compressed turbulence Type Ia Supernova
Gravitational collapse/Jeans instability
Wave breaking on white dwarfs
Intracluster interactions
Laser-driven shock instabilities
Nova outbursts on white dwarfs Rayleigh-Taylor instability
Orzag/Tang MHD
Helium burning on neutron stars vortex
Cellular detonation
Magnetic
Rayleigh-Taylor
Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

The Flash Code
Shortly: Relativistic accretion onto NS
Flame-vortex interactions
Compressed turbulence Type Ia Supernova
Gravitational collapse/Jeans instability

FLASH code:
Wave breaking on white•dwarfs Explicit reactive hydrodynamics code
• AMR, massively parallel (65536 procs+)

• Scales very well
• Highly portable
• Used, tested on Laser-driven
wide variety of problems
shock instabilities
Intracluster interactions
• Rigorously tested
Nova outbursts on white dwarfs Rayleigh-Taylor instability
• Modular (easy to add/change physics modules)

• Widely available (http://flash.uchicago.edu)
Orzag/Tang MHD
Helium burning on neutron stars vortex
Cellular detonation
Magnetic
Rayleigh-Taylor
Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

The Flash Code – AMR
● Required because of very
large dynamic range of
scales.
● Permitted by locality of
problems
● Can do bigger problems
● But hard because:
● Frequent redistribution
● Load balancing
● Irregular, unpredictable
memory/message
patterns; hard to
precompute things
● Refinement/derefinement
a black art.
● PARAMESH library
developed at NASA/GSFC
● Local physics occurs on a

Guard Cells Interior Cells block as if isolated.
● Number of guardcells
depends on stencil size.
● Number of interior points :

● More cells - more efficient
(until block too big for

cache)
● Fewer cells - can refine
more quickly in smaller

CITA|ICAT area. CAIMS-MITACS 2006
● Blocks and refinement are
10 in an oct-tree structure.
● Refining block -> 2d
children created, each with
Refinement
12 18
2x resolution of parent
6 11
Level
2
● Neighbor blocks must differ
20
14
1
19 by at most one level of
8
2
9
7
refinement.
● Drawback: resolution can
16 17
13 15 only fall of linearly in
10 4 5
1 3 distance.
● Feature: simplifies, speeds
6 18
2
11 12 14 up accurate calculation of
7 8 9 19 20 21 `boundary conditions'
1 345 13 1516 17 (guardcells)

The Flash Code – Hydrodynamics
● Hydrodynamics algorithms
informed by highly
compressible problems
typical in astrophysics
● Finite volume Godunov

schemes
● Dimensionally split
● Extremely capable for

modelling shocks,
detonations

● Piecewise Parabolic
Method
● Defines an upwinded
parabola at each point
with correct cell average
● Very aggressive
`flattening' to enforce a
very strict measure of
monotonicity
● Also flattens at contact
discontinuities
● Long history in
compressible
astrophysical flows

● Parabolas improve space
accuracy
● To improve time accuracy,
must modify how left,right
states are chosen for
Riemann solve
● Estimate characteristic
speeds in cell and find region
which is connected to
interface in timestep
● Average over reconstruction
in that region
● Those are left, right states for
Riemann solve
FLASH V&V
● Simulating situations
unavailable to
experiment
● Testing code results

particularly important
● Testing must take

such forms as it can

FLASH V&V
● Simplest: check for
bugs from multiple
developers,
compilers...
● Test suite run nightly
on multiple platforms
● Includes each physics
module, integration
● Differences (to
machine precision)
are flagged, along
with code changes

FLASH V&V
● Test suite includes
standard test cases
for physics modules
with known solutions
● More complicated test
cases with
`benchmark' solutions

FLASH V&V
● Validation: Cannot compare to astrophysical
problems directly
● Compare to experiments of relevant fluid
instabilities
● Very challenging tests

FLASH V&V
● Collaboration w/
experimenters
essential for
comparison
● Iterative process
● Instabilities: can
only compare
statistically

FLASH V&V

Development of subgrid models: flames
● Propagation of turbulent
flame
● Total burning needed for
large-scale models
● Simulations of buoyantly
turbulent flames in low-
speed code
● Development of models
for inclusion into large-
scale models
● Turbulent burning is
Zingale, SUNY Stony Brook
challenging!
Development of subgrid models: ignition
● Ignition in
supernovae likely
happen at `turbulent
hotspots'
● Large-scale reactive
turbulence
● For given turbulence
intensity, how does
ignition happen?

● Many 1d spherical
simulations of
igniting hotspots
● Determine
`flammability limits’
● Highly nonlinear
● Non-igniting
hotspots contribute
little energy to flow
● Large 1d, 3d
simulations of
compressible
reactive turbulence
● Extract temperature,
hotspot PDF
● Need large
simulations – ignition
points are
necessarily rare
events
Future Work
● Development/Integration of all-speed
solvers essential for modeling ignition
through explosion
● Development of meaningful subgrid
models must continue
● Continuing testing methods against
instability experiments: often interesting
research problems in their own right.


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Dursi Astro Combustion

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Simulating Astrophysical Combustion

with the FLASH code

Jonathan Dursi (and many, many others)

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

– Mixing into white dwarf

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

● Effect of strain/curvature on thermonuclear

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

Shortly: Relativistic accretion onto NS

Compressed turbulence Type Ia Supernova

Gravitational collapse/Jeans instability

Wave breaking on white dwarfs

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

Shortly: Relativistic accretion onto NS

Compressed turbulence Type Ia Supernova

Gravitational collapse/Jeans instability

• AMR, massively parallel (65536 procs+)

• Modular (easy to add/change physics modules)

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

● But hard because:

● Local physics occurs on a

● Number of interior points :

(until block too big for

more quickly in smaller

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

● Finite volume Godunov

● Extremely capable for

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

● Testing code results

● Testing must take

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

CITA|ICAT CAIMS-MITACS 2006

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