A variational framework for flow optimization using semi-norm constraints

When considering a general system of equations describing the space-time evolution (flow) of one or several variables, the problem of the optimization over a finite period of time of a measure of the state variable at the final time is a problem of great interest in many fields. Methods already exist in order to solve this kind of optimization problem, but sometimes fail when the constraint bounding the state vector at the initial time is not a norm, meaning that some part of the state vector remains unbounded and might cause the optimization procedure to diverge. In order to regularize this problem, we propose a general method which extends the existing optimization framework in a self-consistent manner. We first derive this framework extension, and then apply it to a problem of interest. Our demonstration problem considers the transient stability properties of a one-dimensional (in space) averaged turbulent model with a space- and time-dependent model "turbulent viscosity". We believe this work has a lot of potential applications in the fluid dynamics domain for problems in which we want to control the influence of separate components of the state vector in the optimization process.Comment: 30 page

Entrainment and mixed layer dynamics of a surface-stress-driven stratiified fluid

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Cambridge University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics 765 (2015): 653-667, doi:10.1017/jfm.2015.5.We consider experimentally an initially quiescent and linearly stratified fluid with buoyancy frequency NQ in a cylinder subject to surface-stress forcing from a disc of radius R spinning at a constant angular velocity Ω. We observe the growth of the disc-adjacent turbulent mixed layer bounded by a sharp primary interface with a constant characteristic thickness lI. To a good approximation the depth of the forced mixed layer scales as hF/R∼(NQ/Ω)−2/3(Ωt)2/9. Generalising the previous arguments and observations of Shravat, Cenedese & Caulfield. (2012), we show that such a deepening rate is consistent with three central assumptions that allow us to develop a phenomenological energy balance model for the entrainment dynamics. First, the total kinetic energy of the deepening mixed layer EKF∝hFu2F, where uF is a characteristic velocity scale of the turbulent motions within the forced layer, is essentially independent of time and the buoyancy frequency NQ. Second, the scaled entrainment parameter E=h˙F/uF depends only on the local interfacial Richardson number RiI=(N2QhFlI)/(2u2F). Third, the potential energy increase (due to entrainment, mixing and homogenisation throughout the deepening mixed layer) is driven by the local energy input at the interface, and hence is proportional to the third power of the characteristic velocity uF. We establish that internal consistency between these assumptions implies that the rate of increase of the potential energy (and hence the local mass flux across the primary interface) decreases with RiI. This observation suggests, as originally argued by Phillips (1972), that the mixing in the vicinity of the primary interface leads to the spontaneous appearance of secondary partially mixed layers, and we observe experimentally such secondary layers below the primary interface.Financial support from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is gratefully acknowledged. The research activity of C.P.C. is supported by EPSRC Programme Grant EP/K034529/1 entitled `Mathematical Underpinnings of Stratified Turbulence.'2015-07-2

The relationship between flux coefficient and entrainment ratio in density currents

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 40 (2010): 2713–2727, doi:10.1175/2010JPO4225.1.The authors explore the theoretical and empirical relationship between the nonlocal quantities of the entrainment ratio E, the appropriately depth- and time-averaged flux coefficient Γ, and the bulk Froude number Fro in density currents. The main theoretical result is that E = 0.125 Γ Fro2(CU3/CL)/cosθ, where θ is the angle of the slope over which the density current flows, CL is the ratio the turbulent length scale to the depth of the density current, and CU is the ratio of the turbulent velocity scale to the mean velocity of the density current. In the case of high bulk Froude numbers Γ Fro−2 and (CU3/CL) = Cϵ 1, so E 0.1, consistent with observations of a constant entrainment ratio in unstratified jets and weakly stratified plumes. For bulk Froude numbers close to one, Γ is constant and has a value in the range of 0.1–0.3, which means that E Fro2, again in agreement with observations and previous experiments. For bulk Froude numbers less than one, Γ decreases rapidly with bulk Froude number, explaining the sudden decrease in entrainment ratios that has been observed in all field and experimental observations.Support for MGW was provided by NSERC, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund, and the Connaught Committee of the University of Toronto. CPC gratefully acknowledges the hospitality and support of the 2008 Summer Study Program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where this project was initiated

Localization of flow structures using infinity-norm optimization

International audienceStability theory based on a variational principle and finite-time direct-adjoint optimization commonly relies on the kinetic perturbation energy density E-1(t ) = (1/V-Omega) integral(Omega) e(x, t) d Omega (where e(x, t) = vertical bar u vertical bar(2)/2) as a measure of disturbance size. This type of optimization typically yields optimal perturbations that are global in the fluid domain Omega of volume V-Omega. This paper explores the use of p-norms in determining optimal perturbations for 'energy' growth over prescribed time intervals of length T. For p = 1 the traditional energy-based stability analysis is recovered, while for large p >> 1, localization of the optimal perturbations is observed which identifies confined regions, or 'hotspots', in the domain where significant energy growth can be expected. In addition, the p-norm optimization yields insight into the role and significance of various regions of the flow regarding the overall energy dynamics. As a canonical example, we choose to solve the infinity-norm optimal perturbation problem for the simple case of two-dimensional channel flow. For such a configuration, several solutions branches emerge, each of them identifying a different energy production zone in the flow: either the centre or the walls of the domain. We study several scenarios (involving centre or wall perturbations) leading to localized energy production for different optimization time intervals. Our investigation reveals that even for this simple two-dimensional channel flow, the mechanism for the production of a highly energetic and localized perturbation is not unique in time. We show that wall perturbations are optimal (with respect to the infinity-norm) for relatively short and long times, while the centre perturbations are preferred for very short and intermediate times. The developed p-norm framework is intended to facilitate worst-case analysis of shear flows and to identify localized regions supporting dominant energy growth

The effects of Prandtl number on the nonlinear dynamics of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in two dimensions

It is known that the pitchfork bifurcation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurring at minimum gradient Richardson number in viscous stratified shear flows can be subcritical or supercritical depending on the value of the Prandtl number,. Here, we study stratified shear flow restricted to two dimensions at finite Reynolds number, continuously forced to have a constant background density gradient and a hyperbolic tangent shear profile, corresponding to the 'Drazin model' base flow. Bifurcation diagrams are produced for fluids with (typical for air), 3 and (typical for water). For and, steady billow-like solutions are found to exist for strongly stable stratification of beyond. Interestingly, these solutions are not a direct product of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, having half the wavelength of the linear instability, and arising through a superharmonic bifurcation. These short-wavelength states can be tracked down to at least and act as instigators of complex dynamics, even in strongly stratified flows. Direct numerical simulations of forced and unforced two-dimensional flows are performed, which support the results of the bifurcation analyses. Perturbations are observed to grow approximately exponentially from random initial conditions where no modal instability is predicted by a linear stability analysis.</p

Transient perturbation growth in time-dependent mixing layers

International audienceWe investigate numerically the transient linear growth of three-dimensional (3D) perturbations in a homogeneous time-evolving mixing layer in order to identify which perturbations are optimal in terms of their kinetic energy gain over a finite, predetermined time interval. We model the mixing layer with an initial parallel velocity distribution U (y) = U-0 tanh(y/d)e(x) with Reynolds number Re = U(0)d/v = 1000, where v is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid. We consider a range of time intervals on both a constant 'frozen' base flow and a time-dependent two-dimensional (2D) flow associated with the growth and nonlinear saturation of two wavelengths of the most-unstable eigenmode of linear theory of the initial parallel velocity distribution, which rolls up into two classical Rayleigh instabilities commonly referred to as Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) billows, which eventually pair to form a larger vortex. For short times, the most-amplified perturbations on the frozen tanh profile are inherently 3D, and are most appropriately described as oblique wave 'OL' perturbations which grow through a combination of the Orr and lift-up mechanisms, while for longer times, the optimal perturbations are 2D and similar to the KH normal mode, with a slight enhancement of gain. For the time-evolving KH base flow, OL perturbations continue to dominate over sufficiently short time intervals. However, for longer time intervals which involve substantial evolution of the primary KH billows, two broad classes of inherently 3D linear optimal perturbation arise, associated at low wavenumbers with the well-known core-centred elliptical translative instability, and at higher wavenumbers with the braid-centred hyperbolic instability. The hyperbolic perturbation is relatively inefficient in exploiting the gain of the OL perturbations, and so only dominates the smaller wavenumber (ultimately) core-centred perturbations when the time evolution of the base flow or the start time of the optimization interval does not allow the OL perturbations much opportunity to grow. When the OL perturbations can grow, they initially grow in the braid, and then trigger an elliptical core-centred perturbation by a strong coupling with the primary KH billow. If the optimization time interval includes pairing of the primary billows, the secondary elliptical perturbations are strongly suppressed during the pairing event, due to the significant disruption of the primary billow cores during pairing

Optimal perturbation growth on a breaking internal gravity wave

The breaking of internal gravity waves in the abyssal ocean is thought to be responsible for much of the mixing necessary to close oceanic buoyancy budgets. The exact mechanism by which these waves break down into turbulence remains an active area of research and can have significant implications on the mixing efficiency. Recent evidence has suggested that both shear instabilities and convective instabilities play a significant role in the breaking of an internal gravity wave in a high Richardson number mean shear flow. We perform a systematic analysis of the stability of a configuration of an internal gravity wave superimposed on a background shear flow first considered by Howland et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 921, 2021, A24), using direct–adjoint looping to find the perturbation giving maximal energy growth on this evolving flow. We find that three-dimensional, convective mechanisms produce greater energy growth than their two-dimensional counterparts. In particular, we find close agreement with the direct numerical simulations of Howland et al. (J. Fluid Mech., 2021, in press), which demonstrated a clear three-dimensional mechanism causing breakdown to turbulence. The results are shown to hold at realistic Prandtl numbers. At low mean Richardson numbers, two-dimensional, shear-driven mechanisms produce greater energy growth

Optimal perturbation growth on a breaking internal gravity wave

The breaking of internal gravity waves in the abyssal ocean is thought to be responsible for much of the mixing necessary to close oceanic buoyancy budgets. The exact mechanism by which these waves break down into turbulence remains an active area of research and can have significant implications on the mixing efficiency. Recent evidence has suggested that both shear instabilities and convective instabilities play a significant role in the breaking of an internal gravity wave in a high Richardson number mean shear flow. We perform a systematic analysis of the stability of a configuration of an internal gravity wave superimposed on a background shear flow first considered by Howland et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 921, 2021, A24), using direct–adjoint looping to find the perturbation giving maximal energy growth on this evolving flow. We find that three-dimensional, convective mechanisms produce greater energy growth than their two-dimensional counterparts. In particular, we find close agreement with the direct numerical simulations of Howland et al. (J. Fluid Mech., 2021, in press), which demonstrated a clear three-dimensional mechanism causing breakdown to turbulence. The results are shown to hold at realistic Prandtl numbers. At low mean Richardson numbers, two-dimensional, shear-driven mechanisms produce greater energy growth