174 research outputs found
Time-Dependent 2-D Vector Field Topology: An Approach Inspired by Lagrangian Coherent Structures
This paper presents an approach to a time-dependent variant of the concept of
vector field topology for 2-D vector fields. Vector field topology is defined
for steady vector fields and aims at discriminating the domain of a vector
field into regions of qualitatively different behaviour. The presented approach
represents a generalization for saddle-type critical points and their
separatrices to unsteady vector fields based on generalized streak lines, with
the classical vector field topology as its special case for steady vector
fields. The concept is closely related to that of Lagrangian coherent
structures obtained as ridges in the finite-time Lyapunov exponent field. The
proposed approach is evaluated on both 2-D time-dependent synthetic and vector
fields from computational fluid dynamics
Oceanic three-dimensional Lagrangian Coherent Structures: A study of a mesoscale eddy in the Benguela ocean region
We study three dimensional oceanic Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) in
the Benguela region, as obtained from an output of the ROMS model. To do that
we first compute Finite-Size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) fields in the region
volume, characterizing mesoscale stirring and mixing. Average FSLE values show
a general decreasing trend with depth, but there is a local maximum at about
100 m depth. LCSs are extracted as ridges of the calculated FSLE fields. They
present a "curtain-like" geometry in which the strongest attracting and
repelling structures appear as quasivertical surfaces. LCSs around a particular
cyclonic eddy, pinched off from the upwelling front are also calculated. The
LCSs are confirmed to provide pathways and barriers to transport in and out of
the eddy
On the role of domain-specific knowledge in the visualization of technical flows
In this paper, we present an overview of a number of existing flow visualization methods, developed by the authors in the recent past, that are specifically aimed at integrating and leveraging domain-specific knowledge into the visualization process. These methods transcend the traditional divide between interactive exploration and featurebased schemes and allow a visualization user to benefit from the abstraction properties of feature extraction and topological methods while retaining intuitive and interactive control over the visual analysis process, as we demonstrate on a number of examples
Transport in Transitory Dynamical Systems
We introduce the concept of a "transitory" dynamical system---one whose
time-dependence is confined to a compact interval---and show how to quantify
transport between two-dimensional Lagrangian coherent structures for the
Hamiltonian case. This requires knowing only the "action" of relevant
heteroclinic orbits at the intersection of invariant manifolds of "forward" and
"backward" hyperbolic orbits. These manifolds can be easily computed by
leveraging the autonomous nature of the vector fields on either side of the
time-dependent transition. As illustrative examples we consider a
two-dimensional fluid flow in a rotating double-gyre configuration and a simple
one-and-a-half degree of freedom model of a resonant particle accelerator. We
compare our results to those obtained using finite-time Lyapunov exponents and
to adiabatic theory, discussing the benefits and limitations of each method.Comment: Updated and corrected version. LaTeX, 29 pages, 21 figure
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