In this paper, we design a new class of central compact schemes based on the cell-centered compact schemes of Lele {[}S.K. Lele, Compact finite difference schemes with spectral-like resolution, J. Comput. Phys. 103 (1992) 16-42{]}. These schemes equate a weighted sum of the nodal derivatives of a smooth function to a weighted sum of the function on both the grid points (cell boundaries) and the cell-centers. In our approach, instead of using a compact interpolation to compute the values on cell-centers, the physical values on these half grid points are stored as independent variables and updated using the same scheme as the physical values on the grid points. This approach increases the memory requirement but not the computational costs. Through systematic Fourier analysis and numerical tests, we observe that the schemes have excellent properties of high order, high resolution and low dissipation. It is an ideal class of schemes for the simulation of multi-scale problems such as aeroacoustics and turbulence.

In this paper we generalize a new type of limiters based on the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite volume methodology for the Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) methods solving nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws, which were recently developed for structured meshes, to two-dimensional unstructured triangular meshes. The key idea of such limiters is to use the entire polynomials of the DG solutions from the troubled cell and its immediate neighboring cells, and then apply the classical WENO procedure to form a convex combination of these polynomials based on smoothness indicators and nonlinear weights, with suitable adjustments to guarantee conservation. The main advantage of this new limiter is its simplicity in implementation, especially for the unstructured meshes considered in this paper, as only information from immediate neighbors is needed and the usage of complicated geometric information of the meshes is largely avoided. Numerical results for both scalar equations and Euler systems of compressible gas dynamics are provided to illustrate the good performance of this procedure.

Two-dimensional interaction between two Taylor vortices is simulated systematically through solving the two-dimensional, unsteady compressible Navier-Stokes equations using a fifth order weighted essentially nonoscillatory finite difference scheme. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the mechanism of sound generation in two-dimensional interaction of two Taylor vortices. Based on an extensive parameter study on the evolution of the vorticity field, we classify the interaction of two Taylor vortices into four types. The first type is the interaction of two counter-rotating vortices with similar strengths. The second type is the interaction of two co-rotating vortices without merging. The third type is the merging of two co-rotating vortices. The fourth type is the interaction of two vortices with a large difference in their strengths or scales. The mechanism of sound generation is analyzed.