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Mohammad Farazmand

Publications and source records attributed to Mohammad Farazmand.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

Kinematics of fluid particles on the sea surface. Hamiltonian theory

We derive the John-Sclavounos equations describing the motion of a fluid particle on the sea surface from first principles using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms applied to the motion of a frictionless particle constrained on an unsteady surface. The main result is that vorticity generated on a stress-free surface vanishes at a wave crest when the horizontal particle velocity equals the crest propagation speed, which is the kinematic criterion for wave breaking. If this holds for the largest crest, then the symplectic two-form associated with the Hamiltonian dynamics reduces instantaneously to that associated with the motion of a particle in free flight, as if the surface did not exist. Further, exploiting the conservation of the Hamiltonian function for steady surfaces and traveling waves we show that particle velocities remain bounded at all times, ruling out the possibility of the finite-time blowup of solutions.

physics.ao-ph↗
arXiv2016

An adjoint-based approach for finding invariant solutions of Navier-Stokes equations

We consider the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations with periodic boundary conditions and time-independent forcing. For this type of flow, we derive adjoint equations whose trajectories converge asymptotically to the equilibrium and traveling wave solutions of the Navier--Stokes equations. Using the adjoint equations, arbitrary initial conditions evolve to the vicinity of a (relative) equilibrium at which point a few Newton-type iterations yield the desired (relative) equilibrium solution. We apply this adjoint-based method to a chaotic two-dimensional Kolmogorov flow. A convergence rate of 100% is observed, leading to the discovery of 21 new steady state and traveling wave solutions at Reynolds number Re=40. Some of the new invariant solutions have spatially localized structures that were previously believed to only exist on domains with large aspect ratios. We show that one of the newly found steady state solutions underpins the temporal intermittencies, i.e., high energy dissipation episodes of the flow. More precisely, it is shown that each intermittent episode of a generic turbulent trajectory corresponds to its close passage to this equilibrium solution.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2016

Defining Coherent Vortices Objectively from the Vorticity

Rotationally coherent Lagrangian vortices are formed by tubes of deforming fluid elements that complete equal bulk material rotation relative to the mean rotation of the deforming fluid volume. We show that initial positions of such tubes coincide with tubular level surfaces of the Lagrangian-Averaged Vorticity Deviation (LAVD), the trajectory integral of the normed difference of the vorticity from its spatial mean. LAVD-based vortices are objective, i.e., remain unchanged under time-dependent rotations and translations of the coordinate frame. In the limit of vanishing Rossby numbers in geostrophic flows, cyclonic LAVD vortex centers are precisely the observed attractors for light particles. A similar result holds for heavy particles in anticyclonic LAVD vortices. We also establish a relationship between rotationally coherent Lagrangian vortices and their instantaneous Eulerian counterparts. The latter are formed by tubular surfaces of equal material rotation rate, objectively measured by the Instantaneous Vorticity Deviation (IVD). We illustrate the use of the LAVD and the IVD to detect rotationally coherent Lagrangian and Eulerian vortices objectively in several two- and three-dimensional flows.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2015

Polar rotation angle identifies elliptic islands in unsteady dynamical systems

We propose rotation inferred from the polar decomposition of the flow gradient as a diagnostic for elliptic (or vortex-type) invariant regions in non-autonomous dynamical systems. We consider here two- and three-dimensional systems, in which polar rotation can be characterized by a single angle. For this polar rotation angle (PRA), we derive explicit formulas using the singular values and vectors of the flow gradient. We find that closed level sets of the PRA reveal elliptic islands in great detail, and singular level sets of the PRA uncover centers of such islands. Both features turn out to be objective (frame-invariant) for two-dimensional systems. We illustrate the diagnostic power of PRA for elliptic structures on several examples.

nlin.CD↗
arXiv2014

Attraction-Based Computation of Hyperbolic Lagrangian Coherent Structures

Recent advances enable the simultaneous computation of both attracting and repelling families of Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) at the same initial or final time of interest. Obtaining LCS positions at intermediate times, however, has been problematic, because either the repelling or the attracting family is unstable with respect to numerical advection in a given time direction. Here we develop a new approach to compute arbitrary positions of hyperbolic LCS in a numerically robust fashion. Our approach only involves the advection of attracting material surfaces, thereby providing accurate LCS tracking at low computational cost. We illustrate the advantages of this approach on a simple model and on a turbulent velocity data set.

math.DS↗
arXiv2014

Asymptotic dynamics of inertial particles with memory

Recent experimental and numerical observations have shown the significance of the Basset--Boussinesq memory term on the dynamics of small spherical rigid particles (or inertial particles) suspended in an ambient fluid flow. These observations suggest an algebraic decay to an asymptotic state, as opposed to the exponential convergence in the absence of the memory term. Here, we prove that the observed algebraic decay is a universal property of the Maxey--Riley equation. Specifically, the particle velocity decays algebraically in time to a limit that is $\mathcal O(ε)$-close to the fluid velocity, where $0<ε\ll 1$ is proportional to the square of the ratio of the particle radius to the fluid characteristic length-scale. These results follows from a sharp analytic upper bound that we derive for the particle velocity. For completeness, we also present a first proof of existence and uniqueness of global solutions to the Maxey--Riley equation, a nonlinear system of fractional-order differential equations.

math-ph↗
arXiv2014

The Maxey-Riley Equation: Existence, Uniqueness and Regularity of Solutions

The Maxey--Riley equation describes the motion of an inertial (i.e., finite-size) spherical particle in an ambient fluid flow. The equation is a second-order, implicit integro-differential equation with a singular kernel, and with a forcing term that blows up at the initial time. Despite the widespread use of the equation in applications, the basic properties of its solutions have remained unexplored. Here we fill this gap by proving local existence and uniqueness of weak solutions. For certain initial velocities between the particle and the fluid, the results extend to strong solutions. We also prove continuous differentiability of the weak and strong solutions with respect to their initial conditions. This justifies the search for coherent structures in inertial flows using the Cauchy--Green strain tensor.

math.DS↗
arXiv2014

How coherent are the vortices of two-dimensional turbulence?

We use recent developments in the theory of finite-time dynamical systems to objectively locate the material boundaries of coherent vortices in two-dimensional Navier--Stokes turbulence. We show that these boundaries are optimal in the sense that any closed curve in their exterior will lose coherence under material advection. Through a detailed comparison, we find that other available Eulerian and Lagrangian techniques significantly underestimate the size of each coherent vortex.

math.DS↗
arXiv2013

Shearless transport barriers in unsteady two-dimensional flows and maps

We develop a variational principle that extends the notion of a shearless transport barrier from steady to general unsteady two-dimensional flows and maps defined over a finite time interval. This principle reveals that hyperbolic Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) and parabolic LCSs (or jet cores) are the two main types of shearless barriers in unsteady flows. Based on the boundary conditions they satisfy, parabolic barriers are found to be more observable and robust than hyperbolic barriers, confirming widespread numerical observations. Both types of barriers are special null-geodesics of an appropriate Lorentzian metric derived from the Cauchy--Green strain tensor. Using this fact, we devise an algorithm for the automated computation of parabolic barriers. We illustrate our detection method on steady and unsteady non-twist maps and on the aperiodically forced Bickley jet.

math.DS↗
arXiv2013

Detecting invariant manifolds, attractors, and generalized KAM tori in aperiodically forced mechanical systems

We show how the recently developed theory of geodesic transport barriers for fluid flows can be used to uncover key invariant manifolds in externally forced, one-degree-of-freedom mechanical systems. Specifically, invariant sets in such systems turn out to be shadowed by least-stretching geodesics of the Cauchy-Green strain tensor computed from the flow map of the forced mechanical system. This approach enables the finite-time visualization of generalized stable and unstable manifolds, attractors and generalized KAM curves under arbitrary forcing, when Poincare maps are not available. We illustrate these results by detailed visualizations of the key finite-time invariant sets of conservatively and dissipatively forced Duffing oscillators.

nlin.CD↗
arXiv2013

Attracting and repelling Lagrangian coherent structures from a single computation

Hyperbolic Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) are locally most repelling or most attracting material surfaces in a finite-time dynamical system. To identify both types of hyperbolic LCSs at the same time instance, the standard practice has been to compute repelling LCSs from future data and attracting LCSs from past data. This approach tacitly assumes that coherent structures in the flow are fundamentally recurrent, and hence gives inconsistent results for temporally aperiodic systems. Here we resolve this inconsistency by showing how both repelling and attracting LCSs are computable at the same time instance from a single forward or a single backward run. These LCSs are obtained as surfaces normal to the weakest and strongest eigenvectors of the Cauchy-Green strain tensor.

math.DS↗