Finite-time barriers to advection-

reaction-diffusion systems (ARD)

Rory Locke
University of California - Merced
2016.11.20
PhD Adviser: Kevin Mitchell

CMMI-1201236
 Background and motivation
Many physical systems develop
fronts inside a fluid flow.
Biological organisms.
Chemical reactions.
Spread of hole in Ozone.

How can we model these fronts?
Dynamics systems approach for
steady ARD systems burning
invariant manifolds (BIMs).
We propose a technique to
extract the most
attracting/repelling structures in
unsteady ARD systems burning
Lagrangian Coherent Structures
(bLCSs)
Savannah Gowen and Tom Solomon. Experimental studies of coherent structure in advection-reaction-diffusion system.
Chaos, 25, 087403 2015.
 Front element dynamics
Consider the reaction front
only.

Our model assumes:

Geometric Optics limit-
reaction much faster than
diffusion.
Front propagation:
curvature
independent. The dynamics of the
speed is homogenous individual front elements
and isotropic are cast in 3D xy-space.
no feedback from
reaction onto fluid flow.
Kevin A. Mitchell and John Mahoney. Invariant manifolds and the geometry of front propagation in fluid flows. Chaos, 22,
2012.
 Lagrangian shear and normal repulsion

Lagrangian shear: p(r, q ) = - g1, v = - g(F(r, q )), [ F ]xy n

Normal repulsion: r (r, q ) = n , v = n(F(r, q )), [ F ] n
1 xy
We seek curves for which the Lagrangian shear
vanishes.
We call these curves perfect shearless fronts.
This approach is motivated by Farazmand,
Blazevski, and Haller.
M. Farazmand, D. Blazevski, G. Haller, Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena 278-279 (0) (2014) 44 57.
J. Mahoney and K. Mitchell. Finite-time barriers to front propagation in two- dimensional fluid flows. Chaos, 25:087404, 2015.
 Shearless surface
To find shearless fronts, define a
constraint surface, shearless surface:
p(r, q ) = 0
Shearless fronts are then found to
be integral curves of the tangent
vector field to the shearless surface
Vector field tangent to shearless surface :
dr a dq b
= g, =
dl a +b
2 2
dl a 2 + b2 Family of shearless curves
Family of curves

Vector field normal to shearless surface : 4

dr a dq c 3

= n, = 2

dk
theta
a +c
2 2
dk a +c
1
2 2
0

-1

d
a=- b = g p, c = n p
0.2

p,
0
0.2

dq
0.1
0.4
0 0.6
0.8
x -0.1 y
1
Shearless fronts of maximum normal repulsion
Family of shearless
Family curves
of curves
Select the 1

shearless front 0.9

which maximizes 0.8

the average 0.7

normal repulsion.
0.6

y
0.5

0.4

0.3

(left) Family of shearless fronts. Cauchy-

0.2 Green Integration T=3.

This shearless front

(right) Our candidate for the bLCS .
0.1
Cauchy-Green Integration T=3.

is our bLCS. 0
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2
x

J. Mahoney and K. Mitchell. Finite-time barriers to front propagation in two- dimensional fluid flows. Chaos, 25:087404, 2015.
 Bootstrapping algorithm
Employ Newtons Method to place BLCS ribbon segments
initial condition on shearless surface.
BLCS segment

Initial conditions
Integrate the normal vector field to
generate a line of initial conditions.

y
Integrate the tangent vector field from
the initial conditions to generate
shearless fronts.

Chose the BLCS as front with maximum

normal repulsion.

Use the end point of the BLCS segment

as the new initial condition. x
Model system - double vortex in windy channel

Spatially uniform wind blowing from right to

left.
The stream function is given by:
y (x, y) = (g / p )x exp(-x )sin(p y) + vy
2

= vortex strength; v = wind speed.

Blue/red curves are stable/unstable BIMs for
constant wind speed v = 0.15v0
 Time dependence through varying wind speed
Wind speed vs. time
Wind speed vs. Time
BIMs for steady flow
BIMS for constant wind speed 1.5v0 and v0
1
0.15

0.14 v = 0.15v0 0.9

0.13 0.8

0.12 0.7

0.11 0.6
wind speed

0.1 0.5

0.09 0.4

0.08 0.3
v = 0.15v0
0.07
v = v0 0.2 v = v0
0.06 0.1

0.05 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
time

The bLCS should lie

Wind speed profile between these two
BIMs.
Front accumulation density histograms
1) Stimulate a reaction 3) Bin the position of all front elements.

4) Repeat for many randomly selected

2) Let front evolve in fluid for time T. initial points. Form histogram.
 Double vortex in a windy channel timespan T=8
Front accumulation timespan
Front accumulation timespan T=8 T=8 Front accumulation timespan T=8
1

BIM v = 0.15v0
0.9

0.8
bLCS
0.7

0.6
yy

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

x
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

x
 Double vortex in a windy channel timespan T=9
Front accumulation timespan T=9
BIM v = 0.15v0
bLCS
y

x
Double vortex in a windy channel timespan T=10
Front accumulation timespan T=10
1

0.9
BIM v =0.15v0
0.8 bLCS
0.7

0.6
y

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

x
Comparison of shearless surfaces timespan T=9,10

As time span
increases,
complexity
of the
shearless
surface
increases.

Folds tighten
and
distance
between
neighboring
branches
reduces.
Numerical instabilities - lifting from shearless surface

Shearless front with magnitude of p coloring

p=0

p = 15.3

Solution: Add an artificial dissipation term to

the vector field ODEs to stay on shearless
surface.
 Conclusion
Proposed a method for extracting coherent structures in
unsteady ARD systems.
Applied the bLCS technique to a double vortex in a
windy channel.
Simulations showed good agreement for front element
dynamic integration times of T=8 and T=9.
Difficulties exist for longer integration times.
Future work:
Add an artificial dissipation term to the vector field ODEs to
stay on shearless surface.
 Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following people:
Dr. Kevin Mitchell
Dr. John Mahoney
Dr. Tom Solomon and students
National Science Foundation