Assimilation and extension of particle image velocimetry data of turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection using direct numerical simulations

A novel method for assimilating and extending measured turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection data is presented, which relies on the fractional step method also used to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equation in direct numerical simulations. Our approach is used to make measured tomographic particle image velocimetry (tomo PIV) fields divergence-free and to extract temperature fields. Comparing the time average of the extracted temperature fields with the temporally averaged temperature field, measured using particle image thermometry in a subdomain of the flow geometry, shows that extracted fields correlate well with measured fields with a correlation coefficient of $$C_{T\tilde{T}}=0.84$$ C T T ~ = 0.84 . Additionally, extracted temperature fields as well as divergence-free velocity fields serve as initial fields for subsequent direct numerical simulations with and without feedback which generate small-scale turbulence initially absent in the experimental data. Although the tomo PIV data set was spatially under-resolved and did not include any information on the boundary layers, the here-proposed method successfully generates velocity and temperature fields featuring small-scale turbulence and thermal as well as kinetic boundary layers, without disturbing the large-scale circulation contained in the original experimental data significantly. The latter is underpinned by high vertical and horizontal velocity correlation coefficients—computed from velocity fields averaged in time and horizontal x-direction obtained from the measurement and from the simulation without feedback—of $$C_{v\tilde{v}}=0.92$$ C v v ~ = 0.92 and $$C_{w\tilde{w}}=0.91$$ C w w ~ = 0.91 representing the large-scale structure. For simulations with feedback, the generated velocity fields resemble the experimental data increasingly well for higher feedback gain values, whereas the temperature fluctuation intensity deviates noticeably from the values obtained from a direct numerical simulation without feedback for gain values $$\alpha \ge 1$$ α ≥ 1 . Thus, a feedback gain of $$\alpha =0.1$$ α = 0.1 was found optimal with correlation coefficients of $$C_{v\tilde{v}}=0.96$$ C v v ~ = 0.96 and $$C_{w\tilde{w}}=0.95$$ C w w ~ = 0.95 as well as a realistic temperature fluctuation intensity profile. The xt-averaged temperature fields obtained from the direct numerical simulations with and without feedback correlate somewhat less with the extracted temperature field ($$C_{T\tilde{T}}\approx 0.6$$ C T T ~ ≈ 0.6 ), which is presumably caused by spatially under-resolved and temporally oscillating initial tomo PIV fields reflected by the extracted temperature field. Graphical abstract

A study of large-scale vertical motion over West Africa

Three separately recorded cases of thundery weather over West Africa that occurred during the conduct of the West African Monsoon Experiment (WAMEX) of 1979, are investigated with the kinematic vertical p-velocity field. The scheme employed here is based on a least-squares-plane technique which has been desribed in Jegede and Balogun (1991), as a variant to the similar methods used by Kung (1972, 1973), and Pedder (1981). The aim in this study is to demonstrate the practicability of the kinematic method for interpreting observed surface weather. In all the three cast-s, there was some consistency noted between the precipitation patterns and the computed vertical velocity fields within the sub-region.

Optical Flow Tracking Velocimetry of Near-Field Explosions

To better understand the complex dynamics and physics associated with the rapid expansion of the detonation product fireball following an explosion, it is imperative to have a full description of its associated velocity field. Typical experimental techniques rely on simple single-point measurements captured from pressure transducers or Hopkinson pressure bars. In this technical design note, we aim to improve the current state-of-the-art by introducing a means to determine full velocity fields from high-speed video using Optical Flow Tracking Velocimetry. We demonstrate the significance of this method from our results by comparing velocity fields derived from high-speed video and a validated numerical model of the same case. A wider use of this technique will allow researchers to elucidate spatial and temporal features of explosive detonations, which could not be obtained thus far using single- point measurements.

Time-Averaged Wind Turbine Wake Flow Field Prediction Using Autoencoder Convolutional Neural Networks

A convolutional neural network (CNN) autoencoder model has been developed to generate 3D realizations of time-averaged velocity in the wake of the wind turbines at the Sandia National Laboratories Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility. Large-eddy simulations (LES) of the SWiFT site are conducted using an actuator surface model to simulate the turbine structures to produce training and validation datasets of the CNN. The simulations are validated using the SpinnerLidar measurements of turbine wakes at the SWiFT site and the instantaneous and time-averaged velocity fields from the training LES are used to train the CNN. The trained CNN is then applied to predict 3D realizations of time-averaged velocity in the wake of the SWiFT turbines under flow conditions different than those for which the CNN was trained. LES results for the validation cases are used to evaluate the performance of the CNN predictions. Comparing the validation LES results and CNN predictions, we show that the developed CNN autoencoder model holds great potential for predicting time-averaged flow fields and the power production of wind turbines while being several orders of magnitude computationally more efficient than LES.

The Observation and Analysis of Stellar Photospheres

This textbook describes the equipment, observational techniques, and analysis used in the investigation of stellar photospheres. Now in its fourth edition, the text has been thoroughly updated and revised to be more accessible to students. New figures have been added to illustrate key concepts, while diagrams have been redrawn and refreshed throughout. The book starts by developing the tools of analysis, and then demonstrates how they can be applied. Topics covered include radiation transfer, models of stellar photospheres, spectroscopic equipment, how to observe stellar spectra, and techniques for measuring stellar temperatures, radii, surface gravities, chemical composition, velocity fields, and rotation rates. Up-to-date results for real stars are included. Written for starting graduate students or advanced undergraduates, this textbook also includes a wealth of reference material useful to researchers. eBook formats include color imagery while print formats are greyscale only; a wide selection of the color images are available online.

Covariant hydrodynamics of Hamiltonian systems

The theory of hydrodynamic reduction of non-autonomous Hamiltonian mechanics (V. Kozlov, 1983) is presented in the geometric formalism of bundles over the time axis R. In this formalism, time is one of the coordinates, not a parameter; the connections describe reference frames and velocity fields of mechanical systems. The equations of the theory are presented in a form that is invariant with respect to time-dependent coordinate transformations and the choice of reference frames.

Study the influence of ship length ratio on ship to ship interaction on moving in parallel on their hydrodynamic characteristics

Суда в некоторых случаях эксплуатации могут двигаться в непосредственной близости друг от друга. Такой сценарий обычно связан с изменением полей давления и скорости вблизи корпуса судов, в результате чего возникают гидродинамические силы и моменты взаимодействия, которые сильно зависит от относительной длины. В этой статье была проведена серия систематических расчётов на двух корпусах KVLCC2, движущихся на большой глубине в безветренную погоду с одинаковой постоянной малой скоростью, не превышающей 4 уз., чтобы исследовать влияние отношения длин на силы и моменты гидродинамического взаимодействия. OpenFOAM, пакет CFD с открытым исходным кодом использовался для организации и проведения расчётов. Метод осреднения по Рейнольдсу уравнений Навье-Стокса (RANS) применялся для моделирования турбулентности. Хорошо известная модель турбулентности использовалась для замыкания уравнений Навье-Стокса. Числовые результаты, касающиеся поля скоростей и гидродинамического следа за судами, были обработаны, проанализированы, сопоставлены и показали хорошее согласование с экспериментальными результатами. Ships, during the lightering operations, are forced to sail in a close position to each other, such a scenario generally associates with a change in the pressure and velocity fields surrounding their hulls, as a result, interaction hydrodynamic forces and moments are generated which are strongly related to the relative length of the interacted ships. In this paper, a series of systematic computations were performed on two KVLCС2 hulls advancing in deep and calm water with the same constant low speed (full scale speed 4kt) in order to investigate the influence of the length ratio on the hydrodynamic interaction forces and moments during the lightering operation. OpenFOAM, an open-source CFD packet was used for carrying out the simulations, Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method was used for turbulence modeling and the well-known turbulent model k-ω SST was used to close RANS equations. Numerical results have been post-processed, analyzed, compared and found to be of a good agreement with the experimental results. The velocity fields and wake were presented and analyzed.

Quasi-periodic forces and conditionally averaged characteristics of unsteady cavitation flow around a hydrofoil

Large-eddy simulations are performed to investigate the cavitating flow around two dimensional hydrofoil section with angle of attack of 9° and high Reynolds number of 1.3×106. We use the Schnerr-Sauer model for accurate phase transitions modelling. Instantaneous velocity fields are compared successfully with PIV data using the methodology of conditional averaging to take into account only the liquid phase characteristics as in PIV. The presence of two frequencies in a spectrum corresponding to the full and partial cavity detachments is analysed.