arXiv subjects

Steven L. Brunton

Publications and source records attributed to Steven L. Brunton.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Leveraging three-dimensionality for navigation in bluff-body wakes

Biological flyers and swimmers navigate in unsteady wake flows using limited sensory abilities and actuation energies. Understanding how vortical structures can be leveraged for energy-efficient navigation in unsteady flows is beneficial in developing autonomous navigation for small-scale aerial and marine vehicles. Such vehicles are typically operated with constrained onboard actuation and sensing capabilities, making energy-efficient trajectory planning critically important. This study finds that trajectory planners can leverage three-dimensionality appearing in a complex unsteady wake for efficient navigation using limited flowfield information. This is revealed with comprehensive investigations by finite-horizon model-predictive control for trajectory planning of a swimmer behind a cylinder wake at Re=300. The navigation performance of three-dimensional (3D) cases is compared to scenarios in a two-dimensional (2D) wake. The underactuated swimmer is able to reach the target by leveraging the background flow when the prediction horizon exceeds one-tenth of the wake-shedding period, demonstrating that navigation is feasible with limited information about the flowfield. Further, we identify that the swimmer can leverage the secondary transverse vortical structures to reach the target faster than is achievable navigating in a 2D wake.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Data-Driven Modeling for On-Demand Flow Prescription in Fan-Array Wind Tunnels

Fan-array wind tunnels are an emerging technology to design bespoke wind fields through grids of individually controllable fans. This design is especially suited for the turbulent, dynamic, non-uniform flow conditions found close to the ground, and has enabled applications from entomology to flight on Mars. However, due to the high dimensionality of fan-array actuation and the complexity of unsteady fluid flow, the physics of fan arrays are not fully characterized, making it difficult to prescribe arbitrary flow fields. Accessing the full capability of fan arrays requires resolving the map from time-varying grids of fan speeds to three-dimensional unsteady flow fields, which remains an open problem. This map is unfeasible to span in a single study, but it can be partitioned and studied in subsets. In this paper, we study the special case of constant fan-speeds and time-averaged streamwise velocities with one homogeneous spanwise axis. We produce a proof-of-concept surrogate model by fitting a regularized linear map to a dataset of fan-array measurements. We use this model as the basis for an open-loop control scheme to design flow profiles subject to constraints on fan speeds. In experimental validation, our model scored a mean prediction error of 1.02 m/s and our control scheme a mean tracking error of 1.05 m/s in a fan array with velocities up to 12 m/s. We empirically conclude that the physics relating constant fan speeds to time-averaged streamwise velocities are dominated by linear dynamics, and present our method as a foundational step to fully resolve fan-array wind tunnel control.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Data-Driven Discovery of a New Ginzburg-Landau Reduced-Order Model for Vortex Shedding

Vortex shedding is an important physical phenomenon observed across many spatial and temporal scales in fluids. Previous experimental and theoretical studies have established a hierarchy of local and global reduced-order models for vortex shedding based on the Stuart-Landau and Ginzburg-Landau equations. In this work, we employ data-driven methods to discover a new Landau variable for the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE) for periodic two-dimensional vortex shedding past a cylinder. We first coarse grain vorticity field data from direct numerical simulations of the fluid by integrating over the vertical spatial dimension, and then time-delay embed this new variable to obtain phase information necessary for CGLE analysis. Finally, we use the sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) to learn an interpretable system of coupled real partial differential equations that balance model complexity and prediction error. We develop local homogeneous models in key regions of the wake, as well as global heterogeneous models that are parameterized by the streamwise coordinate across the entire wake. After computing the normal-form parameters from the discovered equations, we classify the different models and determine behavior and stability in the different regions of the wake, demonstrating the validity of these models across a range of spatiotemporal subdomains. Different dynamics are found to dominate at different stations within the wake. In addition to introducing a novel Landau variable for vortex shedding, this work may also help characterize other vortex shedding systems and inform the design of control schemes.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Computed tomography using meta-optics

Computer vision tasks require processing large amounts of data to perform image classification, segmentation, and feature extraction. Optical preprocessors can potentially reduce the number of floating point operations required by computer vision tasks, enabling low-power and low-latency operation. However, existing optical preprocessors are mostly learned and hence strongly depend on the training data, and thus lack universal applicability. In this paper, we present a metaoptic imager, which implements the Radon transform obviating the need for training the optics. High quality image reconstruction with a large compression ratio of 0.6% is presented through the use of the Simultaneous Algebraic Reconstruction Technique. Image classification with 90% accuracy is presented on an experimentally measured Radon dataset through neural network trained on digitally transformed images.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

A deep learning approach to wall-shear stress quantification: From numerical training to zero-shot experimental application

The accurate quantification of wall-shear stress dynamics is of substantial importance for various applications in fundamental and applied research, spanning areas from human health to aircraft design and optimization. Despite significant progress in experimental measurement techniques and post-processing algorithms, temporally resolved wall-shear stress dynamics with adequate spatial resolution and within a suitable spatial domain remain an elusive goal. To address this gap, we introduce a deep learning architecture that ingests wall-parallel velocity fields from the logarithmic layer of turbulent wall-bounded flows and outputs the corresponding 2D wall-shear stress fields with identical spatial resolution and domain size. From a physical perspective, our framework acts as a surrogate model encapsulating the various mechanisms through which highly energetic outer-layer flow structures influence the governing wall-shear stress dynamics. The network is trained in a supervised fashion on a unified dataset comprising direct numerical simulations of statistically 1D turbulent channel and spatially developing turbulent boundary layer flows at friction Reynolds numbers ranging from 390 to 1,500. We demonstrate a zero-shot applicability to experimental velocity fields obtained from Particle-Image Velocimetry measurements and verify the physical accuracy of the wall-shear stress estimates with synchronized wall-shear stress measurements using the Micro-Pillar Shear-Stress Sensor for Reynolds numbers up to 2,000. In summary, the presented framework lays the groundwork for extracting inaccessible experimental wall-shear stress information from readily available velocity measurements and thus, facilitates advancements in a variety of experimental applications.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Estimating Dynamic Flow Features in Groups of Tracked Objects

Interpreting motion captured in image sequences is crucial for a wide range of computer vision applications. Typical estimation approaches include optical flow (OF), which approximates the apparent motion instantaneously in a scene, and multiple object tracking (MOT), which tracks the motion of subjects over time. Often, the motion of objects in a scene is governed by some underlying dynamical system which could be inferred by analyzing the motion of groups of objects. Standard motion analyses, however, are not designed to intuit flow dynamics from trajectory data, making such measurements difficult in practice. The goal of this work is to extend gradient-based dynamical systems analyses to real-world applications characterized by complex, feature-rich image sequences with imperfect tracers. The tracer trajectories are tracked using deep vision networks and gradients are approximated using Lagrangian gradient regression (LGR), a tool designed to estimate spatial gradients from sparse data. From gradients, dynamical features such as regions of coherent rotation and transport barriers are identified. The proposed approach is affordably implemented and enables advanced studies including the motion analysis of two distinct object classes in a single image sequence. Two examples of the method are presented on data sets for which standard gradient-based analyses do not apply.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

Machine Learning in Viscoelastic Fluids via Energy-Based Kernel Embedding

The ability to measure differences in collected data is of fundamental importance for quantitative science and machine learning, motivating the establishment of metrics grounded in physical principles. In this study, we focus on the development of such metrics for viscoelastic fluid flows governed by a large class of linear and nonlinear stress models. To do this, we introduce a kernel function corresponding to a given viscoelastic stress model that implicitly embeds flowfield snapshots into a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS) whose squared norm equals the total mechanical energy. Working implicitly with lifted representations in the RKHS via the kernel function provides natural and unambiguous metrics for distances and angles between flowfields without the need for hyperparameter tuning. Additionally, we present a solution to the preimage problem for our kernels, enabling accurate reconstruction of flowfields from their RKHS representations. Through numerical experiments on an unsteady viscoelastic lid-driven cavity flow, we demonstrate the utility of our kernels for extracting energetically-dominant coherent structures in viscoelastic flows across a range of Reynolds and Weissenberg numbers. Specifically, the features extracted by Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) of flowfield snapshots using our kernel functions yield reconstructions with superior accuracy in terms of mechanical energy compared to conventional methods such as ordinary Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with naïvely-defined state vectors or KPCA with ad-hoc choices of kernel functions. Our findings underscore the importance of principled choices of metrics in both scientific and machine learning investigations of complex fluid systems.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Constrained optimization of sensor placement for nuclear digital twins

The deployment of extensive sensor arrays in nuclear reactors is infeasible due to challenging operating conditions and inherent spatial limitations. Strategically placing sensors within defined spatial constraints is essential for the reconstruction of reactor flow fields and the creation of nuclear digital twins. We develop a data-driven technique that incorporates constraints into an optimization framework for sensor placement, with the primary objective of minimizing reconstruction errors under noisy sensor measurements. The proposed greedy algorithm optimizes sensor locations over high-dimensional grids, adhering to user-specified constraints. We demonstrate the efficacy of optimized sensors by exhaustively computing all feasible configurations for a low-dimensional dynamical system. To validate our methodology, we apply the algorithm to the Out-of-Pile Testing and Instrumentation Transient Water Irradiation System (OPTI-TWIST) prototype capsule. This capsule is electrically heated to emulate the neutronics effect of the nuclear fuel. The TWIST prototype that will eventually be inserted in the Transient Reactor Test facility (TREAT) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), serves as a practical demonstration. The resulting sensor-based temperature reconstruction within OPTI-TWIST demonstrates minimized error, provides probabilistic bounds for noise-induced uncertainty, and establishes a foundation for communication between the digital twin and the experimental facility.

math.OC↗

arXiv2024

Multi-Hierarchical Surrogate Learning for Structural Dynamical Crash Simulations Using Graph Convolutional Neural Networks

Crash simulations play an essential role in improving vehicle safety, design optimization, and injury risk estimation. Unfortunately, numerical solutions of such problems using state-of-the-art high-fidelity models require significant computational effort. Conventional data-driven surrogate modeling approaches create low-dimensional embeddings for evolving the dynamics in order to circumvent this computational effort. Most approaches directly operate on high-resolution data obtained from numerical discretization, which is both costly and complicated for mapping the flow of information over large spatial distances. Furthermore, working with a fixed resolution prevents the adaptation of surrogate models to environments with variable computing capacities, different visualization resolutions, and different accuracy requirements. We thus propose a multi-hierarchical framework for structurally creating a series of surrogate models for a kart frame, which is a good proxy for industrial-relevant crash simulations, at different levels of resolution. For multiscale phenomena, macroscale features are captured on a coarse surrogate, whereas microscale effects are resolved by finer ones. The learned behavior of the individual surrogates is passed from coarse to finer levels through transfer learning. In detail, we perform a mesh simplification on the kart model to obtain multi-resolution representations of it. We then train a graph-convolutional neural network-based surrogate that learns parameter-dependent low-dimensional latent dynamics on the coarsest representation. Subsequently, another, similarly structured surrogate is trained on the residual of the first surrogate using a finer resolution. This step can be repeated multiple times. By doing so, we construct multiple surrogates for the same system with varying hardware requirements and increasing accuracy.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2024

PyDMD: A Python package for robust dynamic mode decomposition

The dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) is a simple and powerful data-driven modeling technique that is capable of revealing coherent spatiotemporal patterns from data. The method's linear algebra-based formulation additionally allows for a variety of optimizations and extensions that make the algorithm practical and viable for real-world data analysis. As a result, DMD has grown to become a leading method for dynamical system analysis across multiple scientific disciplines. PyDMD is a Python package that implements DMD and several of its major variants. In this work, we expand the PyDMD package to include a number of cutting-edge DMD methods and tools specifically designed to handle dynamics that are noisy, multiscale, parameterized, prohibitively high-dimensional, or even strongly nonlinear. We provide a complete overview of the features available in PyDMD as of version 1.0, along with a brief overview of the theory behind the DMD algorithm, information for developers, tips regarding practical DMD usage, and introductory coding examples. All code is available at https://github.com/PyDMD/PyDMD .

stat.CO↗

arXiv2024

Extending the aircraft flight envelope by mitigating transonic airfoil buffet

In the age of globalization, commercial aviation plays a central role in maintaining our international connectivity by providing fast air transport services for passengers and freight. However, the upper limit of the aircraft flight envelope, i.e., its operational limit in the high-speed regime, is usually fixed by the occurrence of an aerodynamic phenomenon called transonic airfoil buffet. It refers to shock wave oscillations occurring on the aircraft wings, which induce unsteady aerodynamic loads acting on the wing structure. Since these loads can cause severe structural damage endangering flight safety, the aviation industry is highly interested in suppressing transonic airfoil buffet to extend the flight envelope to higher aircraft speeds. In this contribution, we demonstrate experimentally that the application of porous trailing edges substantially attenuates the buffet phenomenon. Since porous trailing edges have the additional benefit of reducing acoustic aircraft emissions, our findings could pave the way for faster air transport with reduced noise emissions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Distributed Control of Partial Differential Equations Using Convolutional Reinforcement Learning

We present a convolutional framework which significantly reduces the complexity and thus, the computational effort for distributed reinforcement learning control of dynamical systems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs). Exploiting translational invariances, the high-dimensional distributed control problem can be transformed into a multi-agent control problem with many identical, uncoupled agents. Furthermore, using the fact that information is transported with finite velocity in many cases, the dimension of the agents' environment can be drastically reduced using a convolution operation over the state space of the PDE. In this setting, the complexity can be flexibly adjusted via the kernel width or by using a stride greater than one. Moreover, scaling from smaller to larger systems -- or the transfer between different domains -- becomes a straightforward task requiring little effort. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework using several PDE examples with increasing complexity, where stabilization is achieved by training a low-dimensional deep deterministic policy gradient agent using minimal computing resources.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2023

Nonlinear parametric models of viscoelastic fluid flows

Reduced-order models have been widely adopted in fluid mechanics, particularly in the context of Newtonian fluid flows. These models offer the ability to predict complex dynamics, such as instabilities and oscillations, at a considerably reduced computational cost. In contrast, the reduced-order modeling of non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid flows remains relatively unexplored. This work leverages the sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics algorithm to develop interpretable reduced-order models for viscoelastic flows. In particular, we explore a benchmark oscillatory viscoelastic flow on the four-roll mill geometry using the classical Oldroyd-B fluid. This flow exemplifies many canonical challenges associated with non-Newtonian flows, including transitions, asymmetries, instabilities, and bifurcations arising from the interplay of viscous and elastic forces, all of which require expensive computations in order to resolve the fast timescales and long transients characteristic of such flows. First, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our data-driven surrogate model to predict the transient evolution and accurately reconstruct the spatial flow field for fixed flow parameters. We then develop a fully parametric, nonlinear model capable of capturing the dynamic variations as a function of the Weissenberg number. While the training data is predominantly concentrated on a limit cycle regime for moderate Wi, we show that the parameterized model can be used to extrapolate, accurately predicting the dominant dynamics in the case of high Weissenberg numbers. The proposed methodology represents an initial step in the field of reduced-order modeling for viscoelastic flows with the potential to be further refined and enhanced for the design, optimization, and control of a wide range of non-Newtonian fluid flows using machine learning and reduced-order modeling techniques.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Data-driven discovery and extrapolation of parameterized pattern-forming dynamics

Pattern-forming systems can exhibit a diverse array of complex behaviors as external parameters are varied, enabling a variety of useful functions in biological and engineered systems. First-principles derivations of the underlying transitions can be characterized using bifurcation theory on model systems whose governing equations are known. In contrast, data-driven methods for more complicated and realistic systems whose governing evolution dynamics are unknown have only recently been developed. Here we develop a data-driven approach, the {\em sparse identification for nonlinear dynamics with control parameters} (SINDyCP), to discover dynamics for systems with adjustable control parameters, such as an external driving strength. We demonstrate the method on systems of varying complexity, ranging from discrete maps to systems of partial differential equations. To mitigate the impact of measurement noise, we also develop a weak formulation of SINDyCP and assess its performance on noisy data. We demonstrate applications including the discovery of universal pattern-formation equations, and their bifurcation dependencies, directly from data accessible from experiments and the extrapolation of predictions beyond the weakly nonlinear regime near the onset of an instability.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2023

Control of Vortex Dynamics using Invariants

Vortex-dominated flows are ubiquitous in engineering, and the ability to efficiently manipulate the dynamics of these vortices has broad applications, from wake shaping to mixing enhancement. However, the strongly nonlinear behavior of the vortex dynamics makes this a challenging task. In this work, we investigate the control of vortex dynamics by using a change of coordinates from the Biot-Savart equations into well-known invariants, such as the Hamiltonian, linear, and angular impulses, which are Koopman eigenfunctions. We then combine the resulting model with model predictive control to generate control laws that force the vortex system using "virtual cylinders". The invariant model is beneficial as it provides a linear, global description of the vortex dynamics through a recently developed Koopman control scheme for conserved quantities and invariants. The use of this model has not been well studied in the literature in the context of control. In this paper, we seek to understand the effect of changing each invariant individually or multiple invariants simultaneously. We use the 4-vortex system as our primary test bed, as it is the simplest configuration that exhibits chaotic behavior. We show that by controlling to specific invariant quantities, we can modify the transition from chaotic to quasiperiodic states. Finally, we computationally demonstrate the effectiveness of invariant control on a toy example of tracer mixing in the 4-vortex system.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Uncovering wall-shear stress dynamics from neural-network enhanced fluid flow measurements

Friction drag from a turbulent fluid moving past or inside an object plays a crucial role in domains as diverse as transportation, public utility infrastructure, energy technology, and human health. As a direct measure of the shear-induced friction forces, an accurate prediction of the wall-shear stress can contribute to sustainability, conservation of resources, and carbon neutrality in civil aviation as well as enhanced medical treatment of vascular diseases and cancer. Despite such importance for our modern society, we still lack adequate experimental methods to capture the instantaneous wall-shear stress dynamics. In this contribution, we present a holistic approach that derives velocity and wall-shear stress fields with impressive spatial and temporal resolution from flow measurements using a deep optical flow estimator with physical knowledge. The validity and physical correctness of the derived flow quantities is demonstrated with synthetic and real-world experimental data covering a range of relevant fluid flows.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Lagrangian Gradient Regression for the Detection of Coherent Structures from Sparse Trajectory Data

Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) are flow features which are defined to objectively characterize complex fluid behavior over a finite time regardless of the orientation of the observer. Fluidic applications of LCS include geophysical, aerodynamic, biological, and bio-inspired flows -- among others -- and can be generalized to broader classes of dynamical systems. One of the prevailing paradigms for identifying LCS involves examining continuum-mechanical properties of the underlying flow. Such methods, including finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) and Lagrangian-averaged vorticity deviation (LAVD) analyses, provide consistent and physically-meaningful results but require expensive computations on a dense array of numerically integrated trajectories. Faster, more robust, sparse methods, on the other hand, are typically non-deterministic and require a-priori intuition of flow field behavior for interpretation. If LCS are to be used in the decision-making protocol of future autonomous technologies, a bridge between dense and sparse approaches must be made. This work begins to address this goal through the development of Lagrangian gradient regression (LGR), which enables the computation of deformation gradients and velocity gradients from sparse data via regression. Using LGR, velocity gradients, flow map Jacobians (thereby FTLE), and rotational Lagrangian metrics like the LAVD are accurately computed from sparse trajectory data which is orders of magnitude less dense than traditional approaches require. Moreover, there is no need to compute velocity or numerically differentiate at any point when using LGR. Therefore, it is a purely Lagrangian technique.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

HyperSINDy: Deep Generative Modeling of Nonlinear Stochastic Governing Equations

The discovery of governing differential equations from data is an open frontier in machine learning. The sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) \citep{brunton_discovering_2016} framework enables data-driven discovery of interpretable models in the form of sparse, deterministic governing laws. Recent works have sought to adapt this approach to the stochastic setting, though these adaptations are severely hampered by the curse of dimensionality. On the other hand, Bayesian-inspired deep learning methods have achieved widespread success in high-dimensional probabilistic modeling via computationally efficient approximate inference techniques, suggesting the use of these techniques for efficient stochastic equation discovery. Here, we introduce HyperSINDy, a framework for modeling stochastic dynamics via a deep generative model of sparse governing equations whose parametric form is discovered from data. HyperSINDy employs a variational encoder to approximate the distribution of observed states and derivatives. A hypernetwork \citep{ha_hypernetworks_2016} transforms samples from this distribution into the coefficients of a differential equation whose sparse form is learned simultaneously using a trainable binary mask \citep{louizos_learning_2018}. Once trained, HyperSINDy generates stochastic dynamics via a differential equation whose coefficients are driven by a Gaussian white noise. In experiments, HyperSINDy accurately recovers ground truth stochastic governing equations, with learned stochasticity scaling to match that of the data. Finally, HyperSINDy provides uncertainty quantification that scales to high-dimensional systems. Taken together, HyperSINDy offers a promising framework for model discovery and uncertainty quantification in real-world systems, integrating sparse equation discovery methods with advances in statistical machine learning and deep generative modeling.

cs.LG↗