Adjoint-based error estimation and mesh adaptation for the correction procedure via reconstruction method

Adjoint-based mesh adaptive methods are capable of distributing computational resources to areas which are important for predicting an engineering output. In this paper, we develop an adjoint-based h-adaptation approach based on the high-order correction procedure via reconstruction formulation (CPR) to minimize the output or functional error. A dual-consistent CPR formulation of hyperbolic conservation laws is developed and its dual consistency is analyzed. Super-convergent functional and error estimate for the output with the CPR method are obtained. Factors affecting the dual consistency, such as the solution point distribution, correction functions, boundary conditions and the discretization approach for the non-linear flux divergence term, are studied. The presented method is then used to perform simulations for the 2D Euler and Navier-Stokes equations with mesh adaptation driven by the adjoint-based error estimate. Several numerical examples demonstrate the ability of the presented method to dramatically reduce the computational cost comparing with uniform grid refinement.