arXiv subjects

Bartosz Protas

Publications and source records attributed to Bartosz Protas.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Extreme Vortex States and the Growth of Enstrophy in 3D Incompressible Flows

In this investigation we study extreme vortex states defined as incompressible velocity fields with prescribed enstrophy $\mathcal{E}_0$ which maximize the instantaneous rate of growth of enstrophy $d\mathcal{E}/dt$. We provide {an analytic} characterization of these extreme vortex states in the limit of vanishing enstrophy $\mathcal{E}_0$ and, in particular, show that the Taylor-Green vortex is in fact a local maximizer of $d\mathcal{E} / dt$ {in this limit}. For finite values of enstrophy, the extreme vortex states are computed numerically by solving a constrained variational optimization problem using a suitable gradient method. In combination with a continuation approach, this allows us to construct an entire family of maximizing vortex states parameterized by their enstrophy. We also confirm the findings of the seminal study by Lu & Doering (2008) that these extreme vortex states saturate (up to a numerical prefactor) the fundamental bound $d\mathcal{E} / dt < C \, \mathcal{E}^3$, for some constant $C > 0$. The time evolution corresponding to these extreme vortex states leads to a larger growth of enstrophy than the growth achieved by any of the commonly used initial conditions with the same enstrophy $\mathcal{E}_0$. However, based on several different diagnostics, there is no evidence of any tendency towards singularity formation in finite time. Finally, we discuss possible physical reasons why the initially large growth of enstrophy is not sustained for longer times.

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arXiv2016

Linear Stability of Hill's Vortex to Axisymmetric Perturbations

We consider the linear stability of Hill's vortex with respect to axisymmetric perturbations. Given that Hill's vortex is a solution of a free-boundary problem, this stability analysis is performed by applying methods of shape differentiation to the contour dynamics formulation of the problem in a 3D axisymmetric geometry. This approach allows us to systematically account for the effect of boundary deformations on the linearized evolution of the vortex under the constraint of constant circulation. The resulting singular integro-differential operator defined on the vortex boundary is discretized with a highly accurate spectral approach. This operator has two unstable and two stable eigenvalues complemented by a continuous spectrum of neutrally-stable eigenvalues. By considering a family of suitably regularized (smoothed) eigenvalue problems solved with a range of numerical resolutions we demonstrate that the corresponding eigenfunctions are in fact singular objects in the form of infinitely sharp peaks localized at the front and rear stagnation points. These findings thus refine the results of the classical analysis by Moffatt & Moore (1978).

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arXiv2016

Drift Due to Two Obstacles in Different Arrangements

We study the drift induced by the passage of two cylinders through an unbounded extent of inviscid incompressible fluid under the assumption that the flow is two-dimensional and steady in the moving frame of reference. The goal is to assess how the resulting total particle drift depends on the parameters of the geometric configuration, namely, the distance between the cylinders and their angle with respect to the direction of translation. This problem is studied by numerically computing, for different cylinder configurations, the trajectories of particles starting at various initial locations. The velocity field used in these computations is expressed in closed form using methods of the complex function theory and the accuracy of calculations is carefully verified. We identify cylinder configurations which result in increased and decreased drift with respect to the reference case when the two cylinders are separated by an infinite distance. Particle trajectories shed additional light on the hydrodynamic interactions between the cylinders in configurations resulting in different drift values. This ensemble of results provides insights about the accuracy of models used to study biogenic transport.

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arXiv2015

Optimal Reconstruction of Inviscid Vortices

We address the question of constructing simple inviscid vortex models which optimally approximate realistic flows as solutions of an inverse problem. Assuming the model to be incompressible, inviscid and stationary in the frame of reference moving with the vortex, the "structure" of the vortex is uniquely characterized by the functional relation between the streamfunction and vorticity. It is demonstrated how the inverse problem of reconstructing this functional relation from data can be framed as an optimization problem which can be efficiently solved using variational techniques. In contrast to earlier studies, the vorticity function defining the streamfunction-vorticity relation is reconstructed in the continuous setting subject to a minimum number of assumptions. To focus attention, we consider flows in 3D axisymmetric geometry with vortex rings. To validate our approach, a test case involving Hill's vortex is presented in which a very good reconstruction is obtained. In the second example we construct an optimal inviscid vortex model for a realistic flow in which a more accurate vorticity function is obtained than produced through an empirical fit. When compared to available theoretical vortex-ring models, our approach has the advantage of offering a good representation of both the vortex structure and its integral characteristics.

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arXiv2015

Computation of Steady Incompressible Flows in Unbounded Domains

In this study we revisit the problem of computing steady Navier-Stokes flows in two-dimensional unbounded domains. Precise quantitative characterization of such flows in the high-Reynolds number limit remains an open problem of theoretical fluid dynamics. Following a review of key mathematical properties of such solutions related to the slow decay of the velocity field at large distances from the obstacle, we develop and carefully validate a spectrally-accurate computational approach which ensures the correct behavior of the solution at infinity. In the proposed method the numerical solution is defined on the entire unbounded domain without the need to truncate this domain to a finite box with some artificial boundary conditions prescribed at its boundaries. Since our approach relies on the streamfunction-vorticity formulation, the main complication is the presence of a discontinuity in the streamfunction field at infinity which is related to the slow decay of this field. We demonstrate how this difficulty can be overcome by reformulating the problem using a suitable background "skeleton" field expressed in terms of the corresponding Oseen flow combined with spectral filtering. The method is thoroughly validated for Reynolds numbers spanning two orders of magnitude with the results comparing favourably against known theoretical predictions and the data available in the literature.

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arXiv2015

Optimal Nonlinear Eddy Viscosity in Galerkin Models of Turbulent Flows

We propose a variational approach to identification of an optimal nonlinear eddy viscosity as a subscale turbulence representation for POD models. The ansatz for the eddy viscosity is given in terms of an arbitrary function of the resolved fluctuation energy. This function is found as a minimizer of a cost functional measuring the difference between the target data coming from a resolved direct or large-eddy simulation of the flow and its reconstruction based on the POD model. The optimization is performed with a data-assimilation approach generalizing the 4D-VAR method. POD models with optimal eddy viscosities are presented for a 2D incompressible mixing layer at $Re=500$ (based on the initial vorticity thickness and the velocity of the high-speed stream) and a 3D Ahmed body wake at $Re=300,000$ (based on the body height and the free-stream velocity). The variational optimization formulation elucidates a number of interesting physical insights concerning the eddy-viscosity ansatz used. The 20-dimensional model of the mixing-layer reveals a negative eddy-viscosity regime at low fluctuation levels which improves the transient times towards the attractor. The 100-dimensional wake model yields more accurate energy distributions as compared to the nonlinear modal eddy-viscosity benchmark {proposed recently} by Östh et al. (2014). Our methodology can be applied to construct quite arbitrary closure relations and, more generally, constitutive relations optimizing statistical properties of a broad class of reduced-order models.

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arXiv2014

Wake Effects on Drift in Two-Dimensional Inviscid Incompressible Flows

This investigation analyzes the effect of vortex wakes on the Lagrangian displacement of particles induced by the passage of an obstacle in a two-dimensional incompressible and inviscid fluid. In addition to the trajectories of individual particles, we also study their drift and the corresponding total drift areas in the Föppl and Kirchhoff potential flow models. Our findings, which are obtained numerically and in some regimes are also supported by asymptotic analysis, are compared to the wakeless potential flow which serves as a reference. We show that in the presence of the Föppl vortex wake some of the particles follow more complicated trajectories featuring a second loop. The appearance of an additional stagnation point in the Föppl flow is identified as a source of this effect. It is also demonstrated that, while the total drift area increases with the size of the wake for large vortex strengths, it is actually decreased for small circulation values. On the other hand, the Kirchhoff flow model is shown to have an unbounded total drift area. By providing a systematic account of the wake effects on the drift, the results of this study will allow for more accurate modeling of hydrodynamic stirring.

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arXiv2013

Maximum Palinstrophy Growth in 2D Incompressible Flows

In this study we investigate vortex structures which lead to the maximum possible growth of palinstrophy in two-dimensional incompressible flows on a periodic domain. The issue of palinstrophy growth is related to a broader research program focusing on extreme amplification of vorticity-related quantities which may signal singularity formation in different flow models. Such extreme vortex flows are found systematically via numerical solution of suitable variational optimization problems. We identify several families of maximizing solutions parameterized by their palinstrophy, palinstrophy and energy and palinstrophy and enstrophy. Evidence is shown that some of these families saturate estimates for the instantaneous rate of growth of palinstrophy obtained using rigorous methods of mathematical analysis, thereby demonstrating that this analysis is in fact sharp. In the limit of small palinstrophies the optimal vortex structures are found analytically, whereas for large palinstrophies they exhibit a self-similar multipolar structure. It is also shown that the time evolution obtained using the instantaneously optimal states with fixed energy and palinstrophy as the initial data saturates the upper bound for the maximum growth of palinstrophy in finite time. Possible implications of this finding for the questions concerning extreme behavior of flows are discussed.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2013

Vortices, Maximum Growth and the Problem of Finite-Time Singularity Formation

In this work we are interested in extreme vortex states leading to the maximum possible growth of palinstrophy in 2D viscous incompressible flows on periodic domains. This study is a part of a broader research effort motivated by the question about the finite-time singularity formation in the 3D Navier-Stokes system and aims at a systematic identification of the most singular flow behaviors. We extend the results reported in Ayala & Protas (2013) where extreme vortex states were found leading to the growth of palinstrophy, both instantaneously and in finite-time, which saturates the estimates obtained with rigorous methods of mathematical analysis. Here we uncover the vortex dynamics mechanisms responsible for such extreme behavior in time-dependent 2D flows. While the maximum palinstrophy growth is achieved at short times, the corresponding long-time evolution is characterized by some nontrivial features, such as vortex scattering events.

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arXiv2013

An Optimal Model Identification For Oscillatory Dynamics With a Stable Limit Cycle

We propose a general framework for parameter-free identification of a class of dynamical systems. Here, the propagator is approximated in terms of an arbitrary function of the state, in contrast to a polynomial or Galerkin expansion used in traditional approaches. The proposed formulation relies on variational data assimilation using measurement data combined with assumptions on the smoothness of the propagator. This approach is illustrated using a generalized dynamic model describing oscillatory transients from an unstable fixed point to a stable limit cycle and arising in nonlinear stability analysis as an example. This 3-state model comprises an evolution equation for the dominant oscillation and an algebraic manifold for the low- and high-frequency components in an autonomous descriptor system. The proposed optimal model identification technique employs mode amplitudes of the transient vortex shedding in a cylinder wake flow as example measurements. The reconstruction obtained with our technique features distinct and systematic improvements over the well-known mean-field (Landau) model of the Hopf bifurcation. The computational aspect of the identification method is thoroughly validated showing that good reconstructions can also be obtained in the absence of of accurate initial approximations.

math.DS↗

arXiv2013

A Method for Geometry Optimization in a Simple Model of Two-Dimensional Heat Transfer

This investigation is motivated by the problem of optimal design of cooling elements in modern battery systems. We consider a simple model of two-dimensional steady-state heat conduction described by elliptic partial differential equations and involving a one-dimensional cooling element represented by a contour on which interface boundary conditions are specified. The problem consists in finding an optimal shape of the cooling element which will ensure that the solution in a given region is close (in the least squares sense) to some prescribed target distribution. We formulate this problem as PDE-constrained optimization and the locally optimal contour shapes are found using a gradient-based descent algorithm in which the Sobolev shape gradients are obtained using methods of the shape-differential calculus. The main novelty of this work is an accurate and efficient approach to the evaluation of the shape gradients based on a boundary-integral formulation which exploits certain analytical properties of the solution and does not require grids adapted to the contour. This approach is thoroughly validated and optimization results obtained in different test problems exhibit nontrivial shapes of the computed optimal contours.

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

Optimal Reconstruction of Material Properties in Complex Multiphysics Phenomena

We develop an optimization-based approach to the problem of reconstructing temperature-dependent material properties in complex thermo-fluid systems described by the equations for the conservation of mass, momentum and energy. Our goal is to estimate the temperature dependence of the viscosity coefficient in the momentum equation based on some noisy temperature measurements, where the temperature is governed by a separate energy equation. We show that an elegant and computationally efficient solution of this inverse problem is obtained by formulating it as a PDE-constrained optimization problem which can be solved with a gradient-based descent method. A key element of the proposed approach, the cost functional gradients are characterized by mathematical structure quite different than in typical problems of PDE-constrained optimization and are expressed in terms of integrals defined over the level sets of the temperature field. Advanced techniques of integration on manifolds are required to evaluate numerically such gradients, and we systematically compare three different methods. As a model system we consider a two-dimensional unsteady flow in a lid-driven cavity with heat transfer, and present a number of computational tests to validate our approach and illustrate its performance.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2013

A Framework for Linear Stability Analysis of Finite-Area Vortices

In this investigation we revisit the question of the linear stability analysis of 2D steady Euler flows characterized by the presence of compact regions with constant vorticity embedded in a potential flow. We give a complete derivation of the linearized perturbation equation which, recognizing that the underlying equilibrium problem is of the free-boundary type, is done systematically using methods of the shape-differential calculus. Particular attention is given to the proper linearization of the contour integrals describing vortex induction. The thus obtained perturbation equation is validated by analytically deducing from it the stability analyses of the circular vortex, originally due to Kelvin (1880), and of the elliptic vortex, originally due to Love (1893), as special cases. We also propose and validate a spectrally-accurate numerical approach to the solution of the stability problem for vortices of general shape in which all singular integrals are evaluated analytically.

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