arXiv subjects

Thomas Y. Hou

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Y. Hou.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Potentially Singular Solutions of the 3D Incompressible Euler Equations

Whether the 3D incompressible Euler equations can develop a singularity in finite time from smooth initial data is one of the most challenging problems in mathematical fluid dynamics. This work attempts to provide an affirmative answer to this long-standing open question from a numerical point of view, by presenting a class of potentially singular solutions to the Euler equations computed in axisymmetric geometries. The solutions satisfy a periodic boundary condition along the axial direction and no-flow boundary condition on the solid wall. The equations are discretized in space using a hybrid 6th-order Galerkin and 6th-order finite difference method, on specially designed adaptive (moving) meshes that are dynamically adjusted to the evolving solutions. With a maximum effective resolution of over $(3 \times 10^{12})^{2}$ near the point of the singularity, we are able to advance the solution up to $τ_{2} = 0.003505$ and predict a singularity time of $t_{s} \approx 0.0035056$, while achieving a \emph{pointwise} relative error of $O(10^{-4})$ in the vorticity vector $ω$ and observing a $(3 \times 10^{8})$-fold increase in the maximum vorticity $\|ω\|_{\infty}$. The numerical data are checked against all major blowup (non-blowup) criteria, including Beale-Kato-Majda, Constantin-Fefferman-Majda, and Deng-Hou-Yu, to confirm the validity of the singularity. A local analysis near the point of the singularity also suggests the existence of a self-similar blowup in the meridian plane.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2013

On Finite Time Singularity and Global Regularity of an Axisymmetric Model for the 3D Euler Equations

We investigate the large time behavior of an axisymmetric model for the 3D Euler equations. In \cite{HL09}, Hou and Lei proposed a 3D model for the axisymmetric incompressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations with swirl. This model shares many properties of the 3D incompressible Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. The main difference between the 3D model of Hou and Lei and the reformulated 3D Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is that the convection term is neglected in the 3D model. In \cite{HSW09}, the authors proved that the 3D inviscid model can develop a finite time singularity starting from smooth initial data on a rectangular domain. A global well-posedness result was also proved for a class of smooth initial data under some smallness condition. The analysis in \cite{HSW09} does not apply to the case when the domain is axisymmetric and unbounded in the radial direction. In this paper, we prove that the 3D inviscid model with an appropriate Neumann-Robin boundary condition will develop a finite time singularity starting from smooth initial data in an axisymmetric domain. Moreover, we prove that the 3D inviscid model has globally smooth solutions for a class of large smooth initial data with some appropriate boundary condition.

math.AP↗

arXiv2013

On the Finite-Time Blowup of a 1D Model for the 3D Incompressible Euler Equations

We study a 1D model for the 3D incompressible Euler equations in axisymmetric geometries, which can be viewed as a local approximation to the Euler equations near the solid boundary of a cylindrical domain. We prove the local well-posedness of the model in spaces of zero-mean functions, and study the potential formation of a finite-time singularity under certain convexity conditions for the velocity field. It is hoped that the results obtained on the 1D model will be useful in the analysis of the full 3D problem, whose loss of regularity in finite time has been observed in a recent numerical study (Luo and Hou, 2013).

math.AP↗

arXiv2013

Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Methods (GMsFEM)

In this paper, we propose a general approach called Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method (GMsFEM) for performing multiscale simulations for problems without scale separation over a complex input space. As in multiscale finite element methods (MsFEMs), the main idea of the proposed approach is to construct a small dimensional local solution space that can be used to generate an efficient and accurate approximation to the multiscale solution with a potentially high dimensional input parameter space. In the proposed approach, we present a general procedure to construct the offline space that is used for a systematic enrichment of the coarse solution space in the online stage. The enrichment in the online stage is performed based on a spectral decomposition of the offline space. In the online stage, for any input parameter, a multiscale space is constructed to solve the global problem on a coarse grid. The online space is constructed via a spectral decomposition of the offline space and by choosing the eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues. The computational saving is due to the fact that the construction of the online multiscale space for any input parameter is fast and this space can be re-used for solving the forward problem with any forcing and boundary condition. Compared with the other approaches where global snapshots are used, the local approach that we present in this paper allows us to eliminate unnecessary degrees of freedom on a coarse-grid level. We present various examples in the paper and some numerical results to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.

math.NA↗

arXiv2013

Convergence of a data-driven time-frequency analysis method

In a recent paper, Hou and Shi introduced a new adaptive data analysis method to analyze nonlinear and non-stationary data. The main idea is to look for the sparsest representation of multiscale data within the largest possible dictionary consisting of intrinsic mode functions of the form $\{a(t) \cos(θ(t))\}$, where $a \in V(θ)$, $V(θ)$ consists of the functions smoother than $\cos(θ(t))$ and $θ'\ge 0$. This problem was formulated as a nonlinear $L^0$ optimization problem and an iterative nonlinear matching pursuit method was proposed to solve this nonlinear optimization problem. In this paper, we prove the convergence of this nonlinear matching pursuit method under some sparsity assumption on the signal. We consider both well-resolved and sparse sampled signals. In the case without noise, we prove that our method gives exact recovery of the original signal.

math.NA↗

arXiv2012

Finite Time Blow-up of a 3D Model for Incompressible Euler Equations

We investigate the role of convection on its large time behavior of 3D incompressible Euler equations. In \cite{HL09a}, we constructed a new 3D model by neglecting the convection term from the reformulated axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations. This model preserves almost all the properties of the full Navier-Stokes equations, including an energy identity for smooth solutions. The numerical evidence presented in \cite{HL09a} seems to support that the 3D model may develop a finite time singularity. In this paper, we prove rigorously that the 3D inviscid model develops a finite time singularity for a family of smooth initial data whose energy is finite and conserved in time.

math.AP↗

arXiv2012

On Singularity Formation of a 3D Model for Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations

We investigate the singularity formation of a 3D model that was recently proposed by Hou and Lei in [16] for axisymmetric 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with swirl. The main difference between the 3D model of Hou and Lei and the reformulated 3D Navier-Stokes equations is that the convection term is neglected in the 3D model. This model shares many properties of the 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. One of the main results of this paper is that we prove rigorously the finite time singularity formation of the 3D inviscid model for a class of initial boundary value problems with smooth initial data of finite energy. We also prove the global regularity of the 3D inviscid model for a class of small smooth initial data.

math.AP↗

arXiv2011

On the Local Well-posedness of a 3D Model for Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations with Partial Viscosity

In this short note, we study the local well-posedness of a 3D model for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with partial viscosity. This model was originally proposed by Hou-Lei in \cite{HouLei09a}. In a recent paper, we prove that this 3D model with partial viscosity will develop a finite time singularity for a class of initial condition using a mixed Dirichlet Robin boundary condition. The local well-posedness analysis of this initial boundary value problem is more subtle than the corresponding well-posedness analysis using a standard boundary condition because the Robin boundary condition we consider is non-dissipative. We establish the local well-posedness of this initial boundary value problem by designing a Picard iteration in a Banach space and proving the convergence of the Picard iteration by studying the well-posedness property of the heat equation with the same Dirichlet Robin boundary condition.

math.AP↗

arXiv2010

Dynamic Growth Estimates of Maximum Vorticity for 3D Incompressible Euler Equations and the SQG Model

By performing estimates on the integral of the absolute value of vorticity along a local vortex line segment, we establish a relatively sharp dynamic growth estimate of maximum vorticity under some assumptions on the local geometric regularity of the vorticity vector. Our analysis applies to both the 3D incompressible Euler equations and the surface quasi-geostrophic model (SQG). As an application of our vorticity growth estimate, we apply our result to the 3D Euler equation with the two anti-parallel vortex tubes initial data considered by Hou-Li. Under some additional assumption on the vorticity field, which seems to be consistent with the computational results of Hou-Li, we show that the maximum vorticity can not grow faster than double exponential in time. Our analysis extends the earlier results by Cordoba-Fefferman and Deng-Hou-Yu.

math.AP↗

arXiv2010

On Singularity Formation of a Nonlinear Nonlocal System

We investigate the singularity formation of a nonlinear nonlocal system. This nonlocal system is a simplified one-dimensional system of the 3D model that was recently proposed by Hou and Lei in [13] for axisymmetric 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with swirl. The main difference between the 3D model of Hou and Lei and the reformulated 3D Navier-Stokes equations is that the convection term is neglected in the 3D model. In the nonlocal system we consider in this paper, we replace the Riesz operator in the 3D model by the Hilbert transform. One of the main results of this paper is that we prove rigorously the finite time singularity formation of the nonlocal system for a large class of smooth initial data with finite energy. We also prove the global regularity for a class of smooth initial data. Numerical results will be presented to demonstrate the asymptotically self-similar blow-up of the solution. The blowup rate of the self-similar singularity of the nonlocal system is similar to that of the 3D model.

math.AP↗

arXiv2009

Global Regularity of the 3D Axi-symmetric Navier-Stokes Equations with Anisotropic Data

In this paper, we study the 3D axi-symmetric Navier-Stokes Equations with swirl. We prove the global regularity of the 3D Navier-Stokes equations for a family of large anisotropic initial data. Moreover, we obtain a global bound of the solution in terms of its initial data in some $L^p$ norm. Our results also reveal some interesting dynamic growth behavior of the solution due to the interaction between the angular velocity and the angular vorticity fields.

math.AP↗

arXiv2008

Removing the Stiffness of Elastic Force from the Immersed Boundary Method for the 2D Stokes Equations

The Immersed Boundary method has evolved into one of the most useful computational methods in studying fluid structure interaction. On the other hand, the Immersed Boundary method is also known to suffer from a severe timestep stability restriction when using an explicit time discretization. In this paper, we propose several efficient semi-implicit schemes to remove this stiffness from the Immersed Boundary method for the two-dimensional Stokes flow. First, we obtain a novel unconditionally stable semi-implicit discretization for the immersed boundary problem. Using this unconditionally stable discretization as a building block, we derive several efficient semi-implicit schemes for the immersed boundary problem by applying the Small Scale Decomposition to this unconditionally stable discretization. Our stability analysis and extensive numerical experiments show that our semi-implicit schemes offer much better stability property than the explicit scheme. Unlike other implicit or semi-implicit schemes proposed in the literature, our semi-implicit schemes can be solved explicitly in the spectral space. Thus the computational cost of our semi-implicit schemes is comparable to that of an explicit scheme, but with a much better stability property.

cs.CE↗

arXiv2007

Computing Nearly Singular Solutions Using Pseudo-Spectral Methods

In this paper, we investigate the performance of pseudo-spectral methods in computing nearly singular solutions of fluid dynamics equations. We consider two different ways of removing the aliasing errors in a pseudo-spectral method. The first one is the traditional 2/3 dealiasing rule. The second one is a high (36th) order Fourier smoothing which keeps a significant portion of the Fourier modes beyond the 2/3 cut-off point in the Fourier spectrum for the 2/3 dealiasing method. Both the 1D Burgers equation and the 3D incompressible Euler equations are considered. We demonstrate that the pseudo-spectral method with the high order Fourier smoothing gives a much better performance than the pseudo-spectral method with the 2/3 dealiasing rule. Moreover, we show that the high order Fourier smoothing method captures about $12 \sim 15%$ more effective Fourier modes in each dimension than the 2/3 dealiasing method. For the 3D Euler equations, the gain in the effective Fourier codes for the high order Fourier smoothing method can be as large as 20% over the 2/3 dealiasing method. Another interesting observation is that the error produced by the high order Fourier smoothing method is highly localized near the region where the solution is most singular, while the 2/3 dealiasing method tends to produce oscillations in the entire domain. The high order Fourier smoothing method is also found be very stable dynamically. No high frequency instability has been observed.

math.NA↗

arXiv2006

Dynamic Stability of the 3D Axi-symmetric Navier-Stokes Equations with Swirl

In this paper, we study the dynamic stability of the 3D axisymmetric Navier-Stokes Equations with swirl. To this purpose, we propose a new one-dimensional (1D) model which approximates the Navier-Stokes equations along the symmetry axis. An important property of this 1D model is that one can construct from its solutions a family of exact solutions of the 3D Navier-Stokes equations. The nonlinear structure of the 1D model has some very interesting properties. On one hand, it can lead to tremendous dynamic growth of the solution within a short time. On the other hand, it has a surprising dynamic depletion mechanism that prevents the solution from blowing up in finite time. By exploiting this special nonlinear structure, we prove the global regularity of the 3D Navier-Stokes equations for a family of initial data, whose solutions can lead to large dynamic growth, but yet have global smooth solutions.

math.AP↗

arXiv2006

Numerical Study of Nearly Singular Solutions of the 3-D Incompressible Euler Equations

In this paper, we perform a careful numerical study of nearly singular solutions of the 3D incompressible Euler equations with smooth initial data. We consider the interaction of two perturbed antiparallel vortex tubes which was previously investigated by Kerr in \cite{Kerr93,Kerr05}. In our numerical study, we use both the pseudo-spectral method with the 2/3 dealiasing rule and the pseudo-spectral method with a high order Fourier smoothing. Moreover, we perform a careful resolution study with grid points as large as $1536\times1024\times 3072$ to demonstrate the convergence of both numerical methods. Our computational results show that the maximum vorticity does not grow faster than doubly exponential in time while the velocity field remains bounded up to T=19, beyond the singularity time $T=18.7$ reported by Kerr in \cite{Kerr93,Kerr05}. The local geometric regularity of vortex lines near the region of maximum vorticity seems to play an important role in depleting the nonlinear vortex stretching dynamically.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2006

Level Set Dynamics and the Non-blowup of the 2D Quasi-geostrophic Equation

In this article we apply the technique proposed in Deng-Hou-Yu (Comm. PDE, 2005) to study the level set dynamics of the 2D quasi-geostrophic equation. Under certain assumptions on the local geometric regularity of the level sets of $θ$, we obtain global regularity results with improved growth estimate on $| \nabla^{\bot} θ|$. We further perform numerical simulations to study the local geometric properties of the level sets near the region of maximum $| \nabla^{\bot} θ|$. The numerical results indicate that the assumptions on the local geometric regularity of the level sets of $θ$ in our theorems are satisfied. Therefore these theorems provide a good explanation of the double exponential growth of $| \nabla^{\bot} θ|$ observed in this and past numerical simulations.

math.AP↗

arXiv2006

Nonexistence of Local Self-Similar Blow-up for the 3D Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations

We prove the nonexistence of local self-similar solutions of the three dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The local self-similar solutions we consider here are different from the global self-similar solutions. The self-similar scaling is only valid in an inner core region which shrinks to a point dynamically as the time, $t$, approaches the singularity time, $T$. The solution outside the inner core region is assumed to be regular. Under the assumption that the local self-similar velocity profile converges to a limiting profile as $t \to T$ in $L^p$ for some $p \in (3,\infty)$, we prove that such local self-similar blow-up is not possible for any finite time.

math.AP↗

arXiv2006

Dynamic Depletion of Vortex Stretching and Non-Blowup of the 3-D Incompressible Euler Equations

We study the interplay between the local geometric properties and the non-blowup of the 3D incompressible Euler equations. We consider the interaction of two perturbed antiparallel vortex tubes using Kerr's initial condition \cite{Kerr93}[Phys. Fluids {\bf 5} (1993), 1725]. We use a pseudo-spectral method with resolution up to $1536\times 1024 \times 3072$ to resolve the nearly singular behavior of the Euler equations. Our numerical results demonstrate that the maximum vorticity does not grow faster than double exponential in time, up to $t=19$, beyond the singularity time $t=18.7$ predicted by Kerr's computations \cite{Kerr93,Kerr04}. The velocity, the enstrophy and enstrophy production rate remain bounded throughout the computations. As the flow evolves, the vortex tubes are flattened severely and turned into thin vortex sheets, which roll up subsequently. The vortex lines near the region of the maximum vorticity are relatively straight. This local geometric regularity of vortex lines seems to be responsible for the dynamic depletion of vortex stretching.

math-ph↗