diff --git a/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/LdcSetup.h b/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/LdcSetup.h
index b8431f2f2779f7f32e7a0f66db5affb422e018f3..eb9a2a283690e29a3ff49f35da50cb326bf24fe2 100644
--- a/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/LdcSetup.h
+++ b/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/LdcSetup.h
@@ -48,13 +48,12 @@ class LDCRefinement
    {
       const AABB & domain = forest.getDomain();
 
-      const AABB leftCorner( 0, domain.yMax() -1, 0, 1, domain.yMax() , domain.zMax() );
-      const AABB rightCorner( domain.xMax() - 1, domain.yMax() -1, 0, domain.xMax(), domain.yMax() , domain.zMax() );
+      const AABB middle( 0, domain.yMax() / 2 - 1, 0, domain.xMax(), domain.yMax() / 2 + 1, domain.zMax() );
 
       for(auto & block : forest)
       {
          auto & aabb = block.getAABB();
-         if( leftCorner.intersects( aabb ) || rightCorner.intersects( aabb ) )
+         if( middle.intersects( aabb ) )
          {
             if( block.getLevel() < refinementDepth_)
                block.setMarker( true );
diff --git a/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/simulation_setup/benchmark_configs.py b/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/simulation_setup/benchmark_configs.py
index 6f7b6820a911fc7805352a07bd2af359dd4b6a7b..be5e07574a22e26a153413473a0b6672b4b6f264 100644
--- a/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/simulation_setup/benchmark_configs.py
+++ b/apps/benchmarks/NonUniformGridGPU/simulation_setup/benchmark_configs.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class Scenario:
                 'blockForestFilestem': self.bfs_filestem,
                 'writeVtk': self.write_setup_vtk,
                 'outputStatistics': True,
-                'writeSetupForestAndReturn': True,
+                'writeSetupForestAndReturn': False,
             },
             'Parameters': {
                 'omega': 1.95,
@@ -135,8 +135,8 @@ def validation_run():
     """Run with full periodic shear flow or boundary scenario (ldc) to check if the code works"""
     wlb.log_info_on_root("Validation run")
 
-    domain_size = (192, 192, 64)
-    cells_per_block = (64, 64, 64)
+    domain_size = (48, 48, 48)
+    cells_per_block = (16, 16, 16)
 
     root_blocks = tuple([d // c for d, c in zip(domain_size, cells_per_block)])
 
@@ -144,9 +144,9 @@ def validation_run():
     scenario = Scenario(domain_size=domain_size,
                         root_blocks=root_blocks,
                         cells_per_block=cells_per_block,
-                        timesteps=0,
-                        vtk_write_frequency=0,
-                        refinement_depth=3,
+                        timesteps=10001,
+                        vtk_write_frequency=10000,
+                        refinement_depth=1,
                         gpu_enabled_mpi=False)
     scenarios.add(scenario)
 
diff --git a/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.cpp b/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.cpp
index a498d701c3679a0e595349cbde526b5f66d121d2..5a0a0b5ba134ebd260fc5b1a4fe005c0c2829a36 100644
--- a/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.cpp
+++ b/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.cpp
@@ -404,8 +404,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
       vtkOutput->setInitialWriteCallsToSkip(initialWriteCallsToSkip);
 
       vtkOutput->addBeforeFunction([&]() {
-         for (auto& block : *blocks)
-         {
+         for (auto& block : *blocks){
             sweepCollection.calculateMacroscopicParameters(&block);
          }
 
diff --git a/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.prm b/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.prm
index 38fc2adf6bf687775163e240dc14cc3de81fa597..deb86acf54459da1acc3e2ab7abb26c59f749741 100644
--- a/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.prm
+++ b/apps/showcases/FlowAroundSphere/FlowAroundSphere.prm
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Parameters
     initialiseWithInletVelocity true;
 
     coarseMeshSize 0.0625;
-    timesteps 101;
+    timesteps 60001;
 
     processMemoryLimit 512; // MiB
     innerOuterSplit <1, 1, 1>;
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ StabilityChecker
 
 VTKWriter
 {
-    vtkWriteFrequency 100;
+    vtkWriteFrequency 240;
     vtkGhostLayers 0;
     velocity true;
     density false;