1,774 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
Finite-time Lagrangian transport analysis: Stable and unstable manifolds of hyperbolic trajectories and finite-time Lyapunov exponents
We consider issues associated with the Lagrangian characterisation of flow
structures arising in aperiodically time-dependent vector fields that are only
known on a finite time interval. A major motivation for the consideration of
this problem arises from the desire to study transport and mixing problems in
geophysical flows where the flow is obtained from a numerical solution, on a
finite space-time grid, of an appropriate partial differential equation model
for the velocity field. Of particular interest is the characterisation,
location, and evolution of "transport barriers" in the flow, i.e. material
curves and surfaces. We argue that a general theory of Lagrangian transport has
to account for the effects of transient flow phenomena which are not captured
by the infinite-time notions of hyperbolicity even for flows defined for all
time. Notions of finite-time hyperbolic trajectories, their finite time stable
and unstable manifolds, as well as finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) fields
and associated Lagrangian coherent structures have been the main tools for
characterizing transport barriers in the time-aperiodic situation. In this
paper we consider a variety of examples, some with explicit solutions, that
illustrate, in a concrete manner, the issues and phenomena that arise in the
setting of finite-time dynamical systems. Of particular significance for
geophysical applications is the notion of "flow transition" which occurs when
finite-time hyperbolicity is lost, or gained. The phenomena discovered and
analysed in our examples point the way to a variety of directions for rigorous
mathematical research in this rapidly developing, and important, new area of
dynamical systems theory
Transport in Transitory, Three-Dimensional, Liouville Flows
We derive an action-flux formula to compute the volumes of lobes quantifying
transport between past- and future-invariant Lagrangian coherent structures of
n-dimensional, transitory, globally Liouville flows. A transitory system is one
that is nonautonomous only on a compact time interval. This method requires
relatively little Lagrangian information about the codimension-one surfaces
bounding the lobes, relying only on the generalized actions of loops on the
lobe boundaries. These are easily computed since the vector fields are
autonomous before and after the time-dependent transition. Two examples in
three-dimensions are studied: a transitory ABC flow and a model of a
microdroplet moving through a microfluidic channel mixer. In both cases the
action-flux computations of transport are compared to those obtained using
Monte Carlo methods.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figures, 1 table, submitted to SIAM J. Appl. Dyn. Sy
Anosov subgroups: Dynamical and geometric characterizations
We study infinite covolume discrete subgroups of higher rank semisimple Lie
groups, motivated by understanding basic properties of Anosov subgroups from
various viewpoints (geometric, coarse geometric and dynamical). The class of
Anosov subgroups constitutes a natural generalization of convex cocompact
subgroups of rank one Lie groups to higher rank. Our main goal is to give
several new equivalent characterizations for this important class of discrete
subgroups. Our characterizations capture "rank one behavior" of Anosov
subgroups and are direct generalizations of rank one equivalents to convex
cocompactness. Along the way, we considerably simplify the original definition,
avoiding the geodesic flow. We also show that the Anosov condition can be
relaxed further by requiring only non-uniform unbounded expansion along the
(quasi)geodesics in the group.Comment: 88 page
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
On Moving Least Squares Based Flow Visualization
Modern simulation and measurement methods tend to produce meshfree data sets if modeling of processes or objects with free surfaces or boundaries is desired. In Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), such data sets are described by particle-based vector fields. This paper presents a summary of a selection of methods for the extraction of geometric features of such point-based vector fields while pointing out its challenges, limitations, and applications
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