arXiv subjects

Bernd R. Noack

Publications and source records attributed to Bernd R. Noack.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Aerodynamic Characterization of a Fan Array Wind Generator

Experimental assessment of safe and precise flight control algorithms for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under gusty wind conditions requires the capability to generate a large range of velocity profiles. In this study, we employ a small fan array wind generator which can generate flows with large spatial and temporal variability. We perform a thorough aerodynamic characterization operating the fans uniformly from a low to the maximum level. PIV and hot-wire measurements indicate a jet-like flow with nearly uniform core which monotonously contracts in streamwise direction and surrounding growing unsteady shear-layers. These complex dynamics results in a limited region with desired flow profile and turbulence level. The experimental results shed light on the flow generated by a full-scale fan array wind generator, and indicate the need for further improvements via properly designed add-ons and dedicated control algorithms.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Topologically assisted optimization for rotor design

We develop and apply a novel shape optimization exemplified for a two-blade rotor with respect to the figure of merit ($FM$). This topologically assisted optimization (TAO) contains two steps. First a global evolutionary optimization is performed for the shape parameters and then a topological analysis reveals the local and global extrema of the objective function directly from the data. This non-dimensional objective function compares the achieved thrust with the required torque. Rotor blades have a decisive contribution to the performance of quadcopters. A two-blade rotor with pre-defined chord length distribution is chosen as the baseline model.The simulation is performed in a moving reference frame with a $k-ω$ turbulence model for the hovering condition.The rotor shape is parameterized by the twist angle distribution.The optimization of this distribution employs a genetic algorithm. The local maxima are distilled from the data using a novel topological analysis inspired by discrete scalar-field topology. We identify one global maximum to be located in the interior of the data and five further local maxima related to errors from non-converged simulations.The interior location of the global optimum suggests that small improvements can be gained from further optimization.The local maxima have a small persistence, i.e., disappear under a small $\varepsilon$ perturbation of the figure of merit values. In other words, the data may be approximated by a smooth mono-modal surrogate model. Thus, the topological data analysis provides valuable insights for optimization and surrogate modeling.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Machine-learned control-oriented flow estimation for multiactuator multi-sensor systems exemplified for the fluidic pinball

We propose the first machine-learned control-oriented flow estimation for multiple-input multiple-output plants. Starting point is constant actuation with open-loop actuation commands leading to a database with simultaneously recorded actuation commands, sensor signals and flow fields. A key enabler is an estimator input vector comprising sensor signals and actuation commands. The mapping from the sensor signals and actuation commands to the flow fields is realized in an analytically simple, data-centric and general nonlinear approach. The analytically simple estimator generalizes Linear Stochastic Estimation (LSE) for actuation commands. The data-centric approach yields flow fields from estimator inputs by interpolating from the database -- similar to Loiseau et al. (2018) for unforced flow. The interpolation is performed with k Nearest Neighbors (kNN). The general global nonlinear mapping from inputs to flow fields is obtained from a Deep Neural Network (DNN) via an iterative training approach. The estimator comparison is performed for the fluidic pinball plant, which is a multiple-input, multiple-output wake control benchmark (Deng et al. 2020) featuring rich dynamics under steady controls. We conclude that the machine learning methods clearly outperform the linear model. The performance of kNN and DNN estimators are comparable for periodic dynamics. Yet, DNN performs consistently better when the flow is chaotic. Moreover, a thorough comparison regarding to the complexity, computational cost, and prediction accuracy is presented to demonstrate the relative merits of each estimator. The proposed method can be generalized for closed-loop flow control plants.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

xMLC -- A Toolkit for Machine Learning Control

xMLC is the second book of this `Machine Learning Tools in Fluid Mechanics' Series and focuses on Machine Learning Control (MLC). The objectives of this book are two-fold: First, provide an introduction to MLC for students, researchers, and newcomers on the field; and second, share an open-source code, xMLC, to automatically learn open- and closed-loop control laws directly in the plant with only a few executable commands. This presented MLC algorithm is based on genetic programming and highlights the learning principles (exploration and exploitation). The need of balance between these two principles is illustrated with an extensive parametric study where the explorative and exploitative forces are gradually integrated in the optimization process. The provided software xMLC is an implementation of MLC. It builds on OpenMLC (Duriez et al., 2017) but replaces tree-based genetic programming but the linear genetic programming framework (Brameier and Banzhaf, 2006). The latter representation is preferred for its easier implementation of multiple-input multiple-output control laws and of the genetic operators (mutation and crossover). The handling of the software is facilitated by a step by step guide that shall help new practitioners to use the code within few minutes. We also provide detailed advice in using the code for other solvers and for experiments. The code is open-source and a GitHub version is available for future updates, options and add-ons.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

A fast converging particle swarm optimization through targeted, position-mutated, elitism (PSO-TPME)

We dramatically improve convergence speed and global exploration capabilities of particle swarm optimization (PSO) through a targeted position-mutated elitism (PSO-TPME). The three key innovations address particle classification, elitism, and mutation in the cognitive and social model. PSO-TPME is benchmarked against five popular PSO variants for multi-dimensional functions, which are extensively adopted in the optimization field, In particular, the convergence accuracy, convergence speed, and the capability to find global minima is investigated. The statistical error is assessed by numerous repetitions. The simulations demonstrate that proposed PSO variant outperforms the other variants in terms of convergence rate and accuracy by orders of magnitude.

cs.NE↗

arXiv2022

Trajectory-optimized cluster-based network model for the sphere wake

We propose a novel trajectory-optimized Cluster-based Network Model (tCNM) for nonlinear model order reduction from time-resolved data following Li et al. ["Cluster-based network model, " J. Fluid Mech. 906, A21 (2021)] and improving the accuracy for a given number of centroids. The starting point is k-means++ clustering which minimizes the representation error of the snapshots by their closest centroids. The dynamics is presented by 'flights' between the centroids. The proposed trajectory-optimized clustering aims to reduce the kinematic representation error further by shifting the centroids closer to the snapshot trajectory and refining state propagation with trajectory support points. Thus, curved trajectories are better resolved. The resulting tCNM is demonstrated for the sphere wake for three flow regimes, including the periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic dynamics. The representation error of tCNM is 5 times smaller as compared to the approximation by the closest centroid. Thus, the error at the same level as Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) of same order. Yet, tCNM has distinct advantages over POD modeling: it is human interpretable by representing dynamics by a handful of coherent structures and their transitions; it shows robust dynamics by design, i.e., stable long-time behavior; and its development is fully automatable, i.e., it does not require tuneable auxiliary closure and other models.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Stabilization of a multi-frequency open cavity flow with gradient-enriched machine learning control

We stabilize an open cavity flow experiment to 1% of its original fluctuation level. For the first time, a multi-modal feedback control is automatically learned for this configuration. The key enabler is automatic in-situ optimization of control laws with machine learning augmented by a gradient descent algorithm, named gradient-enriched machine learning control (Cornejo Maceda et al. 2021, gMLC). gMLC is shown to learn one order of magnitude faster than MLC (Duriez et al. 2017, MLC). The physical interpretation of the feedback mechanism is assisted by a novel cluster-based control law visualization for flow dynamics and corresponding actuation commands. Starting point of the control experiment are two unforced open cavity benchmark configurations: a narrow-bandwidth regime with a single dominant frequency and a mode-switching regime where two frequencies compete. The feedback control commands the DBD actuator located at the leading edge. The flow is monitored by a downstream hot-wire sensor over the trailing edge. The feedback law is optimized with respect to the monitored fluctuation level. As reference, the self-oscillations of the mixing layer are mitigated with steady actuation. Then, a feedback controller is optimized with gMLC. As expected, feedback control outperforms steady actuation by achieving both, a better amplitude reduction and a significantly smaller actuation power, about about 1% of the actuation energy required for similarly effective steady forcing. Intriguingly, optimized laws learned for one regime performs well for the other untested regime as well. The proposed control strategy can be expected to be applicable for many other shear flow experiments.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

DRLinFluids -- An open-source python platform of coupling Deep Reinforcement Learning and OpenFOAM

We propose an open-source python platform for applications of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) in fluid mechanics. DRL has been widely used in optimizing decision-making in nonlinear and high-dimensional problems. Here, an agent maximizes a cumulative reward with learning a feedback policy by acting in an environment. In control theory terms, the cumulative reward would correspond to the cost function, the agent to the actuator, the environment to the measured signals and the learned policy to the feedback law. Thus, DRL assumes an interactive environment or, equivalently, control plant. The setup of a numerical simulation plant with DRL is challenging and time-consuming. In this work, a novel python platform, named DRLinFluids is developed for this purpose, with DRL for flow control and optimization problems in fluid mechanics. The simulations employ OpenFOAM as popular, flexible Navier-Stokes solver in industry and academia, and Tensorforce or Tianshou as widely used versatile DRL packages. The reliability and efficiency of DRLinFluids are demonstrated for two wake stabilization benchmark problems. DRLinFluids significantly reduces the application effort of DRL in fluid mechanics and is expected to greatly accelerates academic and industrial applications.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

From snapshots to manifolds - A tale of shear flows

We propose a novel non-linear manifold learning from snapshot data and demonstrate its superiority over Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) for shedding-dominated shear flows. Key enablers are isometric feature mapping, Isomap (Tenenbaum et al., 2000), as encoder and K-nearest neighbours (KNN) algorithm as decoder. The proposed technique is applied to numerical and experimental datasets including the fluidic pinball, a swirling jet, and the wake behind a couple of tandem cylinders. Analyzing the fluidic pinball, the manifold is able to describe the pitchfork bifurcation and the chaotic regime with only three feature coordinates. These coordinates are linked to vortex-shedding phases and the force coefficients. The manifold coordinates of the swirling jet are comparable to the POD mode amplitudes, yet allow for a more distinct manifold identification which is less sensitive to measurement noise. As similar observation is made for the wake of two tandem cylinders (Raiola et al., 2016). The tandem cylinders are aligned in streamwise distance which corresponds to the transition between the single bluff body and the reattachment regimes of vortex shedding. Isomap unveils these two shedding regimes while the Lissajous plots of first two POD mode amplitudes feature a single circle. The reconstruction error of the manifold model is small compared to the fluctuation level, indicating that the low embedding dimensions contains the coherent structure dynamics. The proposed Isomap-KNN manifold learner is expected to be of large importance in estimation, dynamic modeling and control for large range of configurations with dominant coherent structures.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Cluster-based hierarchical network model of the fluidic pinball -- Cartographing transient and post-transient, multi-frequency, multi-attractor behaviour

We propose a self-supervised cluster-based hierarchical reduced-order modelling methodology to model and analyse the complex dynamics arising from a sequence of bifurcations for a two-dimensional incompressible flow of the unforced fluidic pinball. The hierarchy is guided by a triple decomposition separating a slowly varying base flow, dominant shedding and secondary flow structures. All these flow components are kinematically resolved by a hierarchy of clusters, starting with the base flow in the first layer, resolving the vortex shedding in the second layer and distilling the secondary flow structures in the third layer. The transition dynamics between these clusters is described by a directed network, called the cluster-based hierarchical network model (HiCNM) in the sequel. Three consecutive Reynolds number regimes for different dynamics are considered: (i) periodic shedding at $Re=80$, (ii) quasi-periodic shedding at $Re=105$, and (iii) chaotic shedding at $Re=130$, involving three unstable fixed points, three limit cycles, two quasi-periodic attractors and a chaotic attractor. The HiCNM enables identifying the transient and post-transient dynamics between multiple invariant sets in a self-supervised manner. Both the global trends and the local structures during the transition are well resolved by a moderate number of hierarchical clusters. The proposed reduced-order modelling provides a visual representation of transient and post-transient, multi-frequency, multi-attractor behaviour and may automate the identification and analysis of complex dynamics with multiple scales and multiple invariant sets.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

On closures for reduced order models $-$ A spectrum of first-principle to machine-learned avenues

For over a century, reduced order models (ROMs) have been a fundamental discipline of theoretical fluid mechanics. Early examples include Galerkin models inspired by the Orr-Sommerfeld stability equation and numerous vortex models, of which the von Kármán vortex street is one of the most prominent. Subsequent ROMs typically relied on first principles, like mathematical Galerkin models, weakly nonlinear stability theory, and two- and three-dimensional vortex models. Aubry et al. [N. Aubry, P. Holmes, J. Lumley, and E. Stone, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 192, 115-173 (1988)] pioneered data-driven proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modeling. In early POD modeling, available data was used to build an optimal basis, which was then utilized in a classical Galerkin procedure to construct the ROM. But data has made a profound impact on ROMs beyond the Galerkin expansion. In this paper, we take a modest step and illustrate the impact of data-driven modeling on one significant ROM area. Specifically, we focus on ROM closures, which are correction terms that are added to classical ROMs in order to model the effect of the discarded ROM modes in under-resolved simulations. Through simple examples, we illustrate the main modeling principles used to construct classical ROMs, motivate and introduce modern ROM closures, and show how data-driven modeling, artificial intelligence, and machine learning have changed the standard ROM methodology over the last two decades. Finally, we outline our vision on how state-of-the-art data-driven modeling can continue to reshape the field of reduced order modeling.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Low-dimensional Flow Models from high-dimensional Flow data with Machine Learning and First Principles

Reduced-order modelling and system identification can help us figure out the elementary degrees of freedom and the underlying mechanisms from the high-dimensional and nonlinear dynamics of fluid flow. Machine learning has brought new opportunities to these two processes and is revolutionising traditional methods. We show a framework to obtain a sparse human-interpretable model from complex high-dimensional data using machine learning and first principles.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Reduced-order modeling of the fluidic pinball

The fluidic pinball is a geometrically simple flow configuration with three rotating cylinders on the vertex of an equilateral triangle. Yet, it remains physically rich enough to host a range of interacting frequencies and to allow testing of control laws within minutes on a laptop. The system has multiple inputs (the three cylinders can independently rotate around their axis) and multiple outputs (downstream velocity sensors). Investigating the natural flow dynamics, we found that the first unsteady transition undergone by the wake flow, when increasing the Reynolds number, is a Hopf bifurcation leading to the usual time-periodic vortex shedding phenomenon, typical of cylinder wake flows, in which the mean flow field preserves axial symmetry. We extract dynamically consistent modes from the flow data in order to built a reduced-order model (ROM) of this flow regime. We show that the main dynamical features of the primary Hopf bifurcation can be described by a non-trivial lowest-order model made of three degrees of freedom.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Low-order model for successive bifurcations of the fluidic pinball

We propose the first least-order Galerkin model of an incompressible flow undergoing two successive supercritical bifurcations of Hopf and pitchfork type. A key enabler is a mean-field consideration exploiting the symmetry of the mean flow and the asymmetry of the fluctuation. These symmetries generalize mean-field theory, e.g. no assumption of slow growth-rate is needed. The resulting 5-dimensional Galerkin model successfully describes the phenomenogram of the fluidic pinball, a two-dimensional wake flow around a cluster of three equidistantly spaced cylinders. The corresponding transition scenario is shown to undergo two successive supercritical bifurcations, namely a Hopf and a pitchfork bifurcations on the way to chaos. The generalized mean-field Galerkin methodology may be employed to describe other transition scenarios.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Route to Chaos in the Fluidic Pinball

The fluidic pinball has been recently proposed as an attractive and effective flow configuration for exploring machine learning fluid flow control. In this contribution, we focus on the route to chaos in this system without actuation, as the Reynolds number is smoothly increased. It was found to be of the Newhouse-Ruelle-Takens kind, with a secondary pitchfork bifurcation that breaks the symmetry of the mean flow field on the route to quasi-periodicity.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Galerkin force model for transient and post-transient dynamics of the fluidic pinbal

We propose an aerodynamic force model associated with a Galerkin model for the unforced fluidic pinball, the two-dimensional flow around three equal cylinders with one radius distance to each other. The starting point is a Galerkin model of a bluff-body flow. The force on this body is derived as a constant-linear-quadratic function of the mode amplitudes from first principles following the pioneering work of Noca (1997, 1999) and Liang & Dong (2014). The force model is simplified for the mean-field model of the unforced fluidic pinball (Deng et al. 2020) using symmetry properties and sparse calibration. The model is successfully applied to transient and post-transient dynamics in different Reynolds number regimes: the periodic vortex shedding after the Hopf-bifurcation and the asymmetric vortex shedding after the pitchfork bifurcation comprising six different Navier-Stokes solutions. We foresee many applications of the Galerkin force model for other bluff bodies and flow control.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Stabilization of the fluidic pinball with gradient-enriched machine learning control

We stabilize the flow past a cluster of three rotating cylinders, the fluidic pinball, with automated gradient-enriched machine learning algorithms. The control laws command the rotation speed of each cylinder in an open- and closed-loop manner. These laws are optimized with respect to the average distance from the target steady solution in three successively richer search spaces. First, stabilization is pursued with steady symmetric forcing. Second, we allow for asymmetric steady forcing. And third, we determine an optimal feedback controller employing nine velocity probes downstream. As expected, the control performance increases with every generalization of the search space. Surprisingly, both open- and closed-loop optimal controllers include an asymmetric forcing, which surpasses symmetric forcing. Intriguingly, the best performance is achieved by a combination of phasor control and asymmetric steady forcing. We hypothesize that asymmetric forcing is typical for pitchfork bifurcated dynamics of nominally symmetric configurations. Key enablers are automated machine learning algorithms augmented with gradient search: explorative gradient method for the open-loop parameter optimization and a gradient-enriched machine learning control (gMLC) for the feedback optimization. gMLC learns the control law significantly faster than previously employed genetic programming control. The gMLC source code is freely available online.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Rethinking the Reynolds Transport Theorem, Liouville Equation, and Perron-Frobenius and Koopman Operators

The Reynolds transport theorem provides a generalized conservation law for the transport of a conserved quantity by fluid flow through a continuous connected control volume. It is close connected to the Liouville equation for the conservation of a local probability density function, which in turn leads to the Perron-Frobenius and Koopman evolution operators. All of these tools can be interpreted as continuous temporal maps between fluid elements or domains, connected by the integral curves (pathlines) described by a velocity vector field. We here review these theorems and operators, to present a unified framework for their extension to maps in different spaces. These include (a) spatial maps between different positions in a time-independent flow, connected by a velocity gradient tensor field, and (b) parametric maps between different positions in a manifold, connected by a generalized tensor field. The general formulation invokes a multivariate extension of exterior calculus, and the concept of a probability differential form. The analyses reveal the existence of multivariate continuous (Lie) symmetries induced by a vector or tensor field associated with a conserved quantity, which are manifested as integral conservation laws in different spaces. The findings are used to derive generalized conservation laws, Liouville equations and operators for a number of fluid mechanical and dynamical systems, including spatial (time-independent) and spatiotemporal fluid flows, flow systems with pairwise or $n$-wise spatial correlations, phase space systems, Lagrangian flows, spectral flows, and systems with coupled chemical reaction and flow processes.

physics.flu-dyn↗