Reconstruction and Estimation of Flows Using Resolvent Analysis and Data-Assimilation

Citation

Symon, Sean Pearson (2018) Reconstruction and Estimation of Flows Using Resolvent Analysis and Data-Assimilation. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/B4K7-K876. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05302018-181049042

Abstract

A flow reconstruction methodology is presented for incompressible, statistically stationary flows using resolvent analysis and data-assimilation. The only inputs necessary for the procedure are a rough approximation of the mean profile and a single time-resolved measurement. The objective is to estimate both the mean and fluctuating states of experimental flows with limited measurements which do not include pressure. The input data may be incomplete, in the sense that measurements near a body are difficult to obtain with techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV), or contaminated by noise. The tools developed in this thesis are capable of filling in missing data and reducing the amount of measurement noise by leveraging the governing equations. The reconstructed flow is capable of estimating fluctuations where time-resolved data are not available and solving the flow on larger domains where the mean profile is not known.

The first part of the thesis focuses on how resolvent analysis of the mean flow selects amplification mechanisms. Eigenspectra and pseudospectra of the mean linear Navier-Stokes (LNS) operator are used to characterize amplification mechanisms in flows where linear mechanisms are important. The real parts of the eigenvalues are responsible for resonant amplification and the resolvent operator is low-rank when the eigenvalues are sufficiently separated in the spectrum. Two test cases are studied: low Reynolds number cylinder flow and turbulent channel flow. The latter is studied by considering well-known turbulent structures while the former contains a marginally stable eigenvalue which drowns out the effect of other eigenvalues over a large range of temporal frequencies. There is a geometric manifestation of this dominant mode in the mean profile, suggesting that it leaves a significant footprint on the time-averaged flow that the resolvent can identify. The resolvent does not provide an efficient basis at temporal frequencies where there is no separation of singular values. It can still be leveraged, nevertheless, to identify coherent structures in the flow by approximating the nonlinear forcing from the interaction of highly amplified coherent structures.

The second part of the thesis extends the framework of Foures et al. (2014), who data-assimilated the mean cylinder wake at very low Reynolds numbers. The contributions presented here are to assess the minimum domain for successfully reconstructing Reynolds stress gradients, modifying the algorithm to assimilate mean pressure, determining whether weighting input measurements contributes to improved performance, and adapting the method to experimental data at higher Reynolds numbers. The results from data-assimilating the mean cylinder wake at low Reynolds numbers suggest that the measurement domain needs to coincide with the spatial support of the Reynolds stress gradients while point weighting has a minimal impact on the performance. Finally, a smoothing procedure adapted from Foures et al. (2014) is proposed to cope with data-assimilating an experimental mean profile obtained from PIV data. The data-assimilated mean profiles for an idealized airfoil and NACA 0018 airfoil are solved on a large domain making the mean profile suitable for global resolvent analysis. Data-assimilation is also able to fill in missing or unreliable vectors near the airfoil surface.

The final piece of the thesis is to synthesize the knowledge and techniques developed in the first two parts to reconstruct the experimental flow around a NACA 0018 airfoil. Preliminary results are presented for the case where α = 0° and Re = 10250. The mean profile is data-assimilated and used as an input to resolvent analysis to educe coherent structures in the flow. The resolvent operator for non- amplified temporal frequencies is forced by an approximated nonlinear forcing. The amplitude and phase of the modes are obtained from the discrete Fourier-transform of a time-resolved probe point measurement. The final reconstruction contains less measurement noise compared to the PIV snapshots and obeys the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations (NSE). The thesis concludes with a discussion of how elements of this methodology can be incorporated into the development of estimators for turbulent flows at high Reynolds numbers.

Thesis Files