A test of an alternative approach for uncertainty representation in weather forecasting

Author(s):  
Tijana Janjic ◽  
Maria Lukacova ◽  
Yvonne Ruckstuhl ◽  
Peter Spichtinger ◽  
Bettina Wiebe

<p>Quantification of evolving uncertainties is required for both probabilistic forecasting and data assimilation in weather prediction. In current practice, the ensemble of model simulations is often used as primary tool to describe the required uncertainties. In this work, we explore an alternative approach, so called stochastic Galerkin method which integrates uncertainties forward in time using a spectral approximation in the stochastic space. </p><p>In an idealized two-dimensional model that couples compressible non-hydrostatic Navier-Stokes equations to cloud dynamics, we investigate the propagation of initial uncertainty. The propagation of initial perturbations is followed through time for all model variables during two types of forecasts: the ensemble forecast and stochastic Galerkin forecast. Since model simulations are very expensive in weather forecasting, our hypothesis is that the stochastic Galerkin would provide more accurate and cheaper forecast statistics than the ensemble simulations. Results indicate that uncertainty as represented with mean, standard deviation and evolution of trace through time provides almost identical results if a 10000-member ensemble is used and truncation of stochastic Galerkin is made at ten spectral modes.  However, for coarser approximations,  for example if 50 ensemble members are used or the stochastic Galerkin is truncated at two modes, differences in standard deviations become significant in both approaches.  A series of experiments indicates that differences in performance of the two methods depend on the system state. For example, for stable flows, the stochastic Galerkin outperforms the ensemble of simulations for every truncation and every variable. In very unstable,  turbulent flows the estimate of the mean between the two methods still remains similar. However,  the ensemble of simulations needs more than 100 members (depending on the model variable) and the stochastic Galerkin a truncation with more than five spectral modes, to produce accurate results.</p>

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (6S) ◽  
pp. S3-S13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parviz Moin ◽  
Thomas Bewley

A brief review of current approaches to active feedback control of the fluctuations arising in turbulent flows is presented, emphasizing the mathematical techniques involved. Active feedback control schemes are categorized and compared by examining the extent to which they are based on the governing flow equations. These schemes are broken down into the following categories: adaptive schemes, schemes based on heuristic physical arguments, schemes based on a dynamical systems approach, and schemes based on optimal control theory applied directly to the Navier-Stokes equations. Recent advances in methods of implementing small scale flow control ideas are also reviewed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Alfonsi

The direct numerical simulation of turbulence (DNS) has become a method of outmost importance for the investigation of turbulence physics, and its relevance is constantly growing due to the increasing popularity of high-performance-computing techniques. In the present work, the DNS approach is discussed mainly with regard to turbulent shear flows of incompressible fluids with constant properties. A body of literature is reviewed, dealing with the numerical integration of the Navier-Stokes equations, results obtained from the simulations, and appropriate use of the numerical databases for a better understanding of turbulence physics. Overall, it appears that high-performance computing is the only way to advance in turbulence research through the front of the direct numerical simulation.


Author(s):  
Yan Jin

Abstract The turbulent flow in a compressor cascade is calculated by using a new simulation method, i.e., parameter extension simulation (PES). It is defined as the calculation of a turbulent flow with the help of a reference solution. A special large-eddy simulation (LES) method is developed to calculate the reference solution for PES. Then, the reference solution is extended to approximate the exact solution for the Navier-Stokes equations. The Richardson extrapolation is used to estimate the model error. The compressor cascade is made of NACA0065-009 airfoils. The Reynolds number 3.82 × 105 and the attack angles −2° to 7° are accounted for in the study. The effects of the end-walls, attack angle, and tripping bands on the flow are analyzed. The PES results are compared with the experimental data as well as the LES results using the Smagorinsky, k-equation and WALE subgrid models. The numerical results show that the PES requires a lower mesh resolution than the other LES methods. The details of the flow field including the laminar-turbulence transition can be directly captured from the PES results without introducing any additional model. These characteristics make the PES a potential method for simulating flows in turbomachinery with high Reynolds numbers.


1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Yang ◽  
J. H. Wang

A numerical model is developed to predict the complex velocity, shear and pressure fields in steady turbulent flow through a disk-type prosthetic heart valve in a constant diameter chamber. The governing Navier-Stokes equations are reduced to a set of simultaneous algebraic finite-difference equations which are solved by a fast-converging line-iterations technique. A two-parameter, two-equation model is employed to determine the turbulent viscosity. Numerical results are obtained for stream function, vorticity, and shear and normal stresses. The regions of very high shear and normal stresses in the fluid and at the walls are identified. The maximum value of the shear stress occurring near the upstream corner of the disk may cause hemolysis. The technique can be used together with in-vitro physcial experiments to evaluate existing or future prosthetic heart valve designs.


1990 ◽  
Vol 43 (5S) ◽  
pp. S240-S245 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Aubry

The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), also called Karhunen-Loe`ve expansion, which extracts ‘coherent structures’ from experimental data, is a very efficient tool for analyzing and modeling turbulent flows. It has been shown that it converges faster than any other expansion in terms of kinetic energy (Lumley 1970). First, the POD is applied to the chaotic solution of the Lorenz equations. The dynamics of the Lorenz attractor is reconstructed by only the first three POD modes. In the second part of this paper, we show how the POD can be used in turbulence modeling. The particular case studied is the wall region of a turbulent boundary layer. In this flow, the velocity field is expanded into POD modes in the normal direction and Fourier modes in the streamwise and spanwise directions. Dynamical systems are obtained by Galerkin projections of the Navier Stokes equations onto the different modes. Aubry et al. (1988) applied the technique to derive and study a ten dimensional representation which reproduced qualitatively the bursting event experimentally observed. It is shown that streamwise modes, absent in Aubry et al.’s model, participate to the bursting events. This agrees remarkably well with experimental observations. In both examples, the dynamics of the original system is very well recovered from the contribution of only a few modes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 721 ◽  
pp. 58-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kengo Deguchi ◽  
Philip Hall ◽  
Andrew Walton

AbstractThe recently understood relationship between high-Reynolds-number vortex–wave interaction theory and computationally generated self-sustaining processes provides a possible route to an understanding of some of the underlying structures of fully turbulent flows. Here vortex–wave interaction (VWI) theory is used in the long streamwise wavelength limit to continue the development found at order-one wavelengths by Hall & Sherwin (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 661, 2010, pp. 178–205). The asymptotic description given reduces the Navier–Stokes equations to the so-called boundary-region equations, for which we find equilibrium states describing the change in the VWI as the wavelength of the wave increases from $O(h)$ to $O(Rh)$, where $R$ is the Reynolds number and $2h$ is the depth of the channel. The reduced equations do not include the streamwise pressure gradient of the perturbation or the effect of streamwise diffusion of the wave–vortex states. The solutions we calculate have an asymptotic error proportional to ${R}^{- 2} $ when compared to the full Navier–Stokes equations. The results found correspond to the minimum drag configuration for VWI states and might therefore be of relevance to the control of turbulent flows. The key feature of the new states discussed here is the thickening of the critical layer structure associated with the wave part of the flow to completely fill the channel, so that the roll part of the flow is driven throughout the flow rather than as in Hall & Sherwin as a stress discontinuity across the critical layer. We identify a critical streamwise wavenumber scaling, which, when approached, causes the flow to localize and take on similarities with computationally generated or experimentally observed turbulent spots. In effect, the identification of this critical wavenumber for a given value of the assumed high Reynolds number fixes a minimum box length necessary for the emergence of localized structures. Whereas nonlinear equilibrium states of the Navier–Stokes equations are thought to form a backbone on which turbulent flows hang, our results suggest that the localized states found here might play a related role for turbulent spots.


Recent advances in the mathematical theory of the Navier-Stokes equations have produced new insight in the mathematical theory of turbulence. In particular, the study of the attractor for the Navier-Stokes equations produced the first connection between two approaches to turbulence that seemed far apart, namely the conventional approach of Kolmogorov and the dynamical systems theory approach. Similarly the study of the approximation of the attractor in connection with the newly introduced concept of approximate inertial manifolds has produced a new approach to large eddy simulations and the study of the interaction of small and large eddies in turbulent flows. Our aim in this article is to survey and describe some of the new results concerning the functional properties of the Navier-Stokes equations and to discuss their relevance to turbulence.


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