Make sure to ghost lower-d elements for aux kernels that require them

Refs parallel failures from idaholab#26593

framework/include/mesh/MooseMesh.h

@@ -1359,6 +1359,12 @@ class MooseMesh : public MooseObject, public Restartable, public PerfGraphInterf
    */
   bool isLowerD(const SubdomainID subdomain_id) const;
 
+  /**
+   * @return Whether there are any lower-dimensional blocks that are manifolds of higher-dimensional
+   * block faces
+   */
+  bool hasLowerD() const { return _has_lower_d; }
+
 protected:
   /// Deprecated (DO NOT USE)
   std::vector<std::unique_ptr<GhostingFunctor>> _ghosting_functors;
@@ -1751,6 +1757,10 @@ class MooseMesh : public MooseObject, public Restartable, public PerfGraphInterf
       _higher_d_elem_side_to_lower_d_elem;
   std::unordered_map<const Elem *, unsigned short int> _lower_d_elem_to_higher_d_elem_side;
 
+  /// Whether there are any lower-dimensional blocks that are manifolds of higher-dimensional block
+  /// faces
+  bool _has_lower_d;
+
   /// Whether or not this Mesh is allowed to read a recovery file
   bool _allow_recovery;
 

framework/src/auxkernels/AuxKernel.C

@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ AuxKernelTempl<ComputeValueType>::validParams()
   // This flag is set to true if the AuxKernelTempl is being used on a boundary
   params.addPrivateParam<bool>("_on_boundary", false);
 
+  params.addRelationshipManager("GhostLowerDElems",
+                                Moose::RelationshipManagerType::GEOMETRIC |
+                                    Moose::RelationshipManagerType::ALGEBRAIC);
+
   params.declareControllable("enable"); // allows Control to enable/disable this type of object
   params.registerBase("AuxKernel");
 

framework/src/mesh/MooseMesh.C

@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ MooseMesh::MooseMesh(const InputParameters & parameters)
         getParam<MooseEnum>("patch_update_strategy").getEnum<Moose::PatchUpdateType>()),
     _regular_orthogonal_mesh(false),
     _is_split(getParam<bool>("_is_split")),
+    _has_lower_d(false),
     _allow_recovery(true),
     _construct_node_list_from_side_list(getParam<bool>("construct_node_list_from_side_list")),
     _need_delete(false),
@@ -270,6 +271,8 @@ MooseMesh::MooseMesh(const MooseMesh & other_mesh)
     _patch_update_strategy(other_mesh._patch_update_strategy),
     _regular_orthogonal_mesh(false),
     _is_split(other_mesh._is_split),
+    _has_lower_d(other_mesh._has_lower_d),
+    _allow_recovery(other_mesh._allow_recovery),
     _construct_node_list_from_side_list(other_mesh._construct_node_list_from_side_list),
     _need_delete(other_mesh._need_delete),
     _allow_remote_element_removal(other_mesh._allow_remote_element_removal),
@@ -1205,6 +1208,7 @@ MooseMesh::cacheInfo()
 {
   TIME_SECTION("cacheInfo", 3);
 
+  _has_lower_d = false;
   _sub_to_data.clear();
   _neighbor_subdomain_boundary_ids.clear();
   _block_node_list.clear();
@@ -1264,6 +1268,8 @@ MooseMesh::cacheInfo()
     _communicator.set_union(sub_data.neighbor_subs);
     _communicator.set_union(sub_data.boundary_ids);
     _communicator.max(sub_data.is_lower_d);
+    if (sub_data.is_lower_d)
+      _has_lower_d = true;
     _communicator.set_union(_neighbor_subdomain_boundary_ids[blk_id]);
   }
 }

framework/src/relationshipmanagers/GhostLowerDElems.C

@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ GhostLowerDElems::operator()(const MeshBase::const_element_iterator & range_begi
 {
   mooseAssert(_moose_mesh,
               "The MOOSE mesh must be non-null in order for this relationship manager to work.");
+  if (!_moose_mesh->hasLowerD())
+    return;
 
   static const CouplingMatrix * const null_mat = nullptr;