[dennis722]

Hi Guys,
I am currently simulating a helium gas tank with 660 bar at the beginning in openfoam 1712. This helium then enters a helium environment at 1 bar. So I have extremely large gradients, in the neighboring cells between 660 and 1 bar. However, the simulation does not converge with the settings in fvSolution, fvScheme and controlDict. And shows the following Error:

Error:

diagonal:  Solving for rho, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoUx, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoUy, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoUz, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
smoothSolver:  Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 4.156134313229688e-09, Final residual = 4.265079601544407e-17, No Iterations 2
smoothSolver:  Solving for Uy, Initial residual = 5.497349689819279e-09, Final residual = 5.684861557058189e-17, No Iterations 2
smoothSolver:  Solving for Uz, Initial residual = 3.997193648837395e-11, Final residual = 3.997193648837395e-11, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoE, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
smoothSolver:  Solving for e, Initial residual = 4.275064316920496e-11, Final residual = 6.817779925127806e-14, No Iterations 2
smoothSolver:  Solving for omega, Initial residual = 5.299771101182694e-10, Final residual = 5.299771101182694e-10, No Iterations 0
smoothSolver:  Solving for k, Initial residual = 1.21586269016541e-07, Final residual = 2.371396085560514e-14, No Iterations 2
ExecutionTime = 317.15 s  ClockTime = 321 s

Mean and max Courant Numbers = 2.81431486062863e-05 0.4500049628815927
deltaT = 5.271744881150556e-10
Time = 1.356697112636851857e-06

diagonal:  Solving for rho, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoUx, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoUy, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoUz, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
smoothSolver:  Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 4.155135259471846e-09, Final residual = 4.308414013746852e-17, No Iterations 2
smoothSolver:  Solving for Uy, Initial residual = 5.493142623382779e-09, Final residual = 5.76015490406129e-17, No Iterations 2
smoothSolver:  Solving for Uz, Initial residual = 3.996263192897822e-11, Final residual = 3.996263192897822e-11, No Iterations 0
diagonal:  Solving for rhoE, Initial residual = 0, Final residual = 0, No Iterations 0
[245] #0  [246] #0  Foam::error::printStack(Foam::Ostream&)Foam::error::printStack(Foam::Ostream&) at ??:?
 at ??:?
[246] #1  [245] #1  Foam::sigFpe::sigHandler(int)Foam::sigFpe::sigHandler(int) at ??:?
[246] #2  ? at ??:?
[245] #2  ? in "/lib64/libc.so.6"
[246] #3  Foam::hePsiThermo<Foam::psiThermo, Foam::pureMixture<Foam::sutherlandTransport<Foam::species::thermo<Foam::hConstThermo<Foam::perfectGas<Foam::specie> >, Foam::sensibleInternalEnergy> > > >::calculate(Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh> const&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, bool) in "/lib64/libc.so.6"
[245] #3  Foam::hePsiThermo<Foam::psiThermo, Foam::pureMixture<Foam::sutherlandTransport<Foam::species::thermo<Foam::hConstThermo<Foam::perfectGas<Foam::specie> >, Foam::sensibleInternalEnergy> > > >::calculate(Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh> const&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh>&, bool) at ??:?
[246] #4  Foam::hePsiThermo<Foam::psiThermo, Foam::pureMixture<Foam::sutherlandTransport<Foam::species::thermo<Foam::hConstThermo<Foam::perfectGas<Foam::specie> >, Foam::sensibleInternalEnergy> > > >::correct() at ??:?
[245] #4  Foam::hePsiThermo<Foam::psiThermo, Foam::pureMixture<Foam::sutherlandTransport<Foam::species::thermo<Foam::hConstThermo<Foam::perfectGas<Foam::specie> >, Foam::sensibleInternalEnergy> > > >::correct() at ??:?
[246] #5   at ??:?
[245] #5  ?? at ??:?
[246] #6  __libc_start_main at ??:?
[245] #6  __libc_start_main in "/lib64/libc.so.6"
[246] #7   in "/lib64/libc.so.6"
[245] #7  ?? at ??:?
 at ??:?

controlDict:

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\
| =========                 |                                                 |
| \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox           |
|  \\    /   O peration     | Version:  plus                                  |
|   \\  /    A nd           | Web:      www.OpenFOAM.com                      |
|    \\/     M anipulation  |                                                 |
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
    version     2.0;
    format      ascii;
    class       dictionary;
    location    "system";
    object      controlDict;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //

application     rhoCentralFoam;

startFrom       startTime;//latestTime;

startTime       0;

stopAt          endTime;

endTime         2e-3;

deltaT          1e-10;

writeControl    adjustableRunTime;

writeInterval   1e-10;

purgeWrite      0;

writeFormat     ascii;

writePrecision  16;

writeCompression off;

timeFormat      general;

timePrecision   19;

runTimeModifiable true;

adjustTimeStep  yes;

maxCo           0.45;
//maxAlphaCo    0.45;

maxDeltaT       1;

functions
{
    #includeFunc  probes 
    #includeFunc  residuals
    #includeFunc  surfaces

    MachNumber
    {
        type               MachNo;
        libs               ("libfieldFunctionObjects.so");
        executeControl     timeStep;
        writeControl       writeTime;
    }
}

// ************************************************************************* //

fvSolution:

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\
| =========                 |                                                 |
| \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox           |
|  \\    /   O peration     | Version:  plus                                  |
|   \\  /    A nd           | Web:      www.OpenFOAM.com                      |
|    \\/     M anipulation  |                                                 |
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
    version     2.0;
    format      ascii;
    class       dictionary;
    location    "system";
    object      fvSolution;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //



solvers
{
    "(rho|rhoU|rhoE)"
    {
        solver          diagonal; //inviscid part always solved explicit in rhoCentralFoam!!
    }
    
    "(U|k|epsilon|omega|e)"
    {
        solver          smoothSolver;
        smoother        GaussSeidel;
        nSweeps         2;
        tolerance       1e-09;
        relTol          0.01;
    }
 }

[dennis722]

fvSchemes:

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\
| =========                 |                                                 |
| \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox           |
|  \\    /   O peration     | Version:  plus                                  |
|   \\  /    A nd           | Web:      www.OpenFOAM.com                      |
|    \\/     M anipulation  |                                                 |
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
    version     2.0;
    format      ascii;
    class       dictionary;
    location    "system";
    object      fvSchemes;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //

fluxScheme      Kurganov;

ddtSchemes
{
    default         Euler;
}

gradSchemes
{
    default         Gauss linear;
}

divSchemes
{
    default         none;
    div(tauMC)      Gauss linear;
    div(phi,omega)  Gauss upwind;
    div(phi,k)        Gauss upwind;
    div(phi,epsilon) Gauss upwind;
    
}

laplacianSchemes
{
    default         Gauss linear corrected;
}

interpolationSchemes
{
    default         linear;
    reconstruct(rho) vanLeer;
    reconstruct(U)  vanLeerV;
    reconstruct(T)  vanLeer;
}

snGradSchemes
{
    default         corrected;
}

wallDist
{
    method meshWave;
}

[dennis722]

So far I have found:
Using vanLeer for "reconstruct (rho / U / T)" causes the simulation to end after a few time steps with the error shown above. A change in the interpolation scheme from "reconstruct (rho)" to upwind makes the simulation work longer until it crashes with the error from above. And a change from "reconstruct (rho / U / T)" to upwind allows the simulation to converge without an error.
However, since this is hypersonic flow, an upwind scheme is not accurate enough. Therefore I would like to use a TVD scheme (e.g. vanLeer, limitedLinear, MUSCL, limitedCubic) if possible, since the developers of rhoCentralFoam also recommend using vanLeer or vanLeerV.



Maybe you have other ideas.