Particle-in-cell simulations with moving boundaries - adaptive mesh generation (Q1339538)

The particle-in-cell (PIC) method is coupled with boundary-fitted grids in order to model the stationary Maxwell-Lorentz problem in technical devices. The aim of this paper is to introduce techniques, with which one is able to change the emission surfaces in the particle-in-cell code based on boundary fitted coordinates, (BFC PIC) according to the physical quantities computed from the dynamical behaviour of electromagnetic device. In contrast to previous work of \textit{J. U. Brackbill} and \textit{J. S. Saltzman} [J. Comput. Phys. 46, 342-368 (1982; Zbl 0489.76007)], \textit{J. U. Brackbill} and \textit{H. M. Ruppel} [J. Comput. Phys. 65, 314-343 (1986; Zbl 0592.76090)], and \textit{J. F. Thompson} [Appl. Numer. Math. 1, 3-27 (1985; Zbl 0551.65081)], who focused on the problem of rezoning the grid due to the solution in a sophisticated manner, the author chooses a simple grid modification model introduced by \textit{J. F. Thompson}, \textit{Z. U. A. Warsi} and \textit{C. W. Mastin} [J. Comput. Phys. 47, 1-108 (1982; Zbl 0492.65011)] and outlines the procedure of combining adaptive mesh zoning with the PIC method. Specifically the author does not adapt the mesh to the solution of the problem in order to obtain a better resolution of this numerical solution or to improve the grid in terms of smoothness and orthogonality, but he treats the problem how to handle physical effects, where the boundary of the computational domain changes during simulation. Thus it is the purpose of the paper to describe coupling of adaptive meshes with the PIC method and to develop techniques in order to obtain a smooth transition of the particles in these changing grids. Examples of computation for externally applied -- \(B\) ion diode are presented.