Flow Approximation Research Articles

Synchronized States of Power Grids and Oscillator Networks by Convex Optimization

Synchronization is essential for the operation of ac power systems: all generators in the power grid must rotate with fixed relative phases to enable a steady flow of electric power. Understanding the conditions for and the limitations of synchronization is of utmost practical importance. In this article, we propose a novel approach to computing and analyzing the stable stationary states of a power grid or a network of Kuramoto oscillators in terms of a convex optimization problem. This approach allows us to systematically compute stable states where the phase difference across an edge does not exceed π/2. Furthermore, the optimization formulation allows us to rigorously establish certain properties of synchronized states and to bound the error in the widely used linear power flow approximation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Dynamics of a Discrete Population Model

In order to explore the influences of the strong Allee effect on population evolution in two-patch environments, this paper constructs a population model with discrete diffusion and analyzes its dynamics. Using the center manifold theorem, we discuss the codimension-one bifurcation, such as flip bifurcation, of the model. The qualitative structures and stability of the model at the degenerate fixed point are obtained from the approximation of flow. Based on the theoretical analysis results, we investigate the influences of the strong Allee effect and diffusion on population evolution. The qualitative structures of degenerate fixed point and numerical simulation show that the strong Allee effect will make the population tend to a stable size when the two initial population patch sizes are equal and exceed a threshold. But the stable size of population does not exceed the carrying capacity, depending on the constant Allee effect and carrying capacity, which differ from the conclusion of logistic model that population size tends to the carrying capacity. However, if the two initial population patches are equal in size and below this threshold, or if the sizes of the initial population patches are unequal, the population size will decrease. The fixed point becomes degenerate with respect to the strong Allee effect causing the population tend to a stable size below carrying capacity, which exacerbates the complexity of population evolution.

Finite-element approximation for three-dimensional nanofluid flow with heat transfer over a non-linearly stretching sheet

Finite-element approximation for three-dimensional nanofluid flow with heat transfer over a non-linearly stretching sheet

Cell-centered Lagrange+Remap numerical strategy for a multi-material multi-velocity model

The present work is devoted to the numerical approximation of multi-material flows. The so-called 6-equation system is considered where each material has its own velocity but shares the same pressure with the rest of the mixture. This model is a necessary building block as dissipation is completely removed outside of shocks. A numerical scheme is then presented and extends the classical “Lagrange+Remap” strategy to a multi-velocity setting. Entropy considerations are the focal point of its derivation as a mean of stabilizing results, ensuring thermodynamical consistency and selecting shocks of interest. Finally the scheme’s robustness and ability to deal with the inner stiffness of contrasted mixtures are evaluated on several test cases.

An adaptive hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method for Darcy–Forchheimer flow in fractured porous media

In this paper, we consider an adaptive hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method based on the discrete fracture model for approximation of a single-phase flow in fractured porous media. We are interested in the case that the flow rate in fracture is large enough to justify the use of Forchheimer’s law for modeling flow within the fracture, while Darcy’s law is applied to the surrounding matrix. The HDG method could be designed to simulate the flow in porous media with reduced fractures which consist of many straight lines or planes. More specifically, we use piecewise polynomials of degree [Formula: see text] to approximate the velocity and pressure in fracture and surrounding porous media. The existence and uniqueness of discrete solutions are proved by the Brouwer fixed point theorem, and an efficient and reliable a posteriori error estimator is obtained with respect to an energy norm. Moreover, the HDG scheme, the existence and uniqueness of discrete solutions, and the a posteriori error estimates are also extended to the problem with non-planar, embedded, and intersecting fractures. Finally, several numerical examples are provided to validate the performance of the obtained a posteriori error estimator.

Approximation of Classical Two-Phase Flows of Viscous Incompressible Fluids by a Navier–Stokes/Allen–Cahn System

We show convergence of the Navier–Stokes/Allen–Cahn system to a classical sharp interface model for the two-phase flow of two viscous incompressible fluids with same viscosities in a smooth bounded domain in two and three space dimensions as long as a smooth solution of the limit system exists. Moreover, we obtain error estimates with the aid of a relative entropy method. Our results hold provided that the mobility mε>0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$m_\\varepsilon >0$$\\end{document} in the Allen–Cahn equation tends to zero in a subcritical way, i.e., mε=m0εβ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$m_\\varepsilon = m_0 \\varepsilon ^\\beta $$\\end{document} for some β∈(0,2)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\beta \\in (0,2)$$\\end{document} and m0>0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$m_0>0$$\\end{document}. The proof proceeds by showing via a relative entropy argument that the solution to the Navier–Stokes/Allen–Cahn system remains close to the solution of a perturbed version of the two-phase flow problem, augmented by an extra mean curvature flow term mεHΓt\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$m_\\varepsilon H_{\\Gamma _t}$$\\end{document} in the interface motion. In a second step, it is easy to see that the solution to the perturbed problem is close to the original two-phase flow.

Active particle motion in Poiseuille flow through rectangular channels.

We investigate the dynamics of a pointlike active particle suspended in fluid flow through a straight channel. For this particle-fluid system, we derive a constant of motion for a general unidirectional fluid flow and apply it to an approximation of Poiseuille flow through channels with rectangular cross- sections. We obtain a 4D nonlinear conservative dynamical system with one constant of motion and a dimensionless parameter describing the ratio of maximum flow speed to intrinsic active particle speed. Applied to square channels, we observe a diverse set of active particle trajectories with variations in system parameters and initial conditions which we classify into different types of swinging, trapping, tumbling, and wandering motion. Regular (periodic and quasiperiodic) motion as well as chaotic active particle motion are observed for these trajectories and quantified using largest Lyapunov exponents. We explore the transition to chaotic motion using Poincaré maps and show "sticky" chaotic tumbling trajectories that have long transients near a periodic state. We briefly illustrate how these results extend to rectangular cross-sectionswith a width-to-height ratio larger than one. Outcomes of this paper may have implications for dynamics of natural and artificial microswimmers in experimental microfluidic channels that typically have rectangular cross sections.

An improved viscoelastic k- ε -v2-f turbulence model for intermediate and high drag reduction regimes

In this work, an improved anisotropic k-ε-v2-f model based on the finite extensible nonlinear elastic model with the Peterlin approximation for viscoelastic channel flows is proposed. This model is tested using direct numerical simulation (DNS) data for friction Reynolds numbers (Reτ) in the range of 120–1000, friction Wiesenberg numbers (Wiτ) in the range of 25–116, viscosity ratios (β) in the range of 0.6–0.9, and maximum polymer extensibility values (L2) in the range of 900–14 400. The flow characteristics of viscoelastic fluids with various parameters obtained from the new model agree well with existing DNS results. By adding closures for the flow, shear, and transverse components, the incomplete prediction of nonlinear terms from interactions between the fluctuating components of the conformation and velocity gradient tensors is improved. Compared with DNS results, these closures can fully obtain each component and significantly improve the accuracy of the flow direction component in the intermediate and high drag reduction regimes. Furthermore, the model in this paper retains the advantages of an anisotropic model, does not require a damping function, is simple to construct, and is easily extended to a variety of bounded flows.

Application of Time-Variant Systems Theory to the Unsteady Aerodynamics of Rotary Wings

This work employs the principles of time-variant systems theory to investigate the unsteady aerodynamics of rotary-wing configurations under periodic equilibrium conditions. Their application enables an extension of the pulse technique for system identification, as well as the adaptation of the linear-frequency-domain formulation commonly utilized in fixed-wing to rotary-wing scenarios. These methodologies effectively incorporate the aerodynamic nonlinearities associated with the equilibrium state into an efficient time-variant linearized representation of the unsteady aerodynamics. To promote its application in the context of rotary-wing aeroelasticity, a state-space realization based on a periodic autoregressive model with exogenous input is subsequently employed. Upon transformation from discrete to continuous time, the resulting aerodynamic model adopts a linear continuous-time periodic state-space formulation, offering compatibility for its coupling with a wide range of structural models. The proposed aerodynamic framework tailored to rotary-wing aeroelasticity holds applicability across a spectrum of aerodynamic models of arbitrary complexity, spanning from incompressible potential flow approximations to potentially more sophisticated methods. Showcasing the potential of this framework, the widely studied lossy Mathieu equation and the aerodynamic response to a flap perturbation about the periodic equilibrium condition of a prototypical rotor blade section, incorporating nonlinearities through an analytical dynamic stall model, are considered.

Brownian particle diffusion in generalized polynomial shear flows.

This study presents a mathematical framework for calculating the diffusion of Brownian particles in generalized shear flows. By solving the Langevin equationsusing stochastic instead of classical calculus, we propose a mathematical formulation that resolves the particle mean-square displacement (MSD) at all timescales for any two-dimensional parallel shear flow described by a polynomial velocity profile. We show that at long timescales, the polynomial order of time of the particle MSD is n+2, where n is the polynomial order of the transverse coordinate of the velocity profile. We generalize the method to resolve particle diffusion in any polynomial shear flow at all timescales, including the order of particle relaxation timescale, which is unresolved in current theories. Particle diffusion at all timescales is then studied for the cases of Couette and plane Poiseuille flows and a polynomial approximation of a hyperbolic tangent flow while neglecting the boundary effects. We observe three main stages of particle diffusion along the timeline for Couette and plane Poiseuille flows and four main stages for hyperbolic tangent flow. The particle MSD is distinctly different across these stages due to different dominant physical mechanisms. Thus, higher temporal and spatial resolution for diffusion processes in shear flows may be realized, suggesting a more accurate analytical approach for the diffusion of Brownian particles.

Emission analysis based on mixed traffic flow and license plate recognition model

With the rising ownership of new energy vehicles (NEVs), accurate road traffic emission estimations are crucial. This study combined mixed traffic flow and license plate recognition (LPR) using improved 3D convolutional neural network (3D-CNN) and Transformer models. The 3D-CNN model is designed for vehicle localization and traffic flow data acquisition, while the Transformer-based LPR model accurately recognizes license plates, distinguishing NEVs from conventional vehicles. The overall model is validated by the training and test datasets, and then with field application along a primary arterial segment in the South 2nd Ring Road, Xi’an, China. The results demonstrate capability for the traffic emission approximation of the mixed traffic flow including new energy vehicles, revealing that mixed traffic flow identification plays an important role in road emission approximation. Results and procedures of the study may provide benchmark for the subsequent research and the verification of related transportation policies.

A Mixed Finite Element Approximation for Fluid Flows of Mixed Regimes in Porous Media

A Mixed Finite Element Approximation for Fluid Flows of Mixed Regimes in Porous Media

Positivity-preserving discontinuous spectral element methods for compressible multi-species flows

We introduce a novel positivity-preserving numerical stabilisation approach for high-order discontinuous spectral element approximations of compressible multi-species flows. The underlying stabilisation method is the adaptive entropy filtering approach (Dzanic and Witherden, J. Comput. Phys., 468, 2022), which is extended to the conservative formulation of the multi-species flow equations. We show that the straightforward enforcement of entropy constraints in the filter yields poor results around species interfaces and propose an adaptive switch for the entropy bounds based on the convergence properties of the pressure field which drastically improves its performance for multi-species flows. The proposed approach is shown in a variety of numerical experiments applied to the multi-species Euler and Navier–Stokes equations computed on unstructured grids, ranging from shock-fluid interaction problems to three-dimensional viscous flow instabilities. We demonstrate that the approach can retain the high-order accuracy of the underlying numerical scheme even at smooth extrema, ensure the positivity of the species density and pressure in the vicinity of shocks and contact discontinuities, and accurately predict small-scale flow features with minimal numerical dissipation.

Long solution times or low solution quality: On trade-offs in choosing a power flow formulation for the Optimal Power Shutoff problem

The Optimal Power Shutoff (OPS) problem is an optimization problem that makes power line de-energization decisions in order to reduce the risk of igniting a wildfire, while minimizing the load shed of customers. This problem, with DC linear power flow equations, has been used in many studies in recent years. However, using linear approximations for power flow when making decisions on the network topology is known to cause challenges with AC feasibility of the resulting network, as studied in the related contexts of optimal transmission switching or grid restoration planning. This paper explores the accuracy of the DC OPS formulation and the ability to recover an AC-feasible power flow solution after de-energization decisions are made. We also extend the OPS problem to include variants with the AC, Second-Order-Cone, and Network-Flow power flow equations, and compare them to the DC approximation with respect to solution quality and time. The results highlight that the DC approximation overestimates the amount of load that can be served, leading to poor de-energization decisions. The AC and SOC-based formulations are better, but prohibitively slow to solve for even modestly sized networks thus demonstrating the need for new solution methods with better trade-offs between computational time and solution quality.

Managing power balance and reserve feasibility in the AC unit commitment problem

Incorporating the AC power flow equations into unit commitment models has the potential to avoid costly corrective actions required by less accurate power flow approximations. However, research on unit commitment with AC power flow constraints has been limited to a few relatively small test networks. This work investigates large-scale AC unit commitment problems for the day-ahead market and develops decomposition algorithms capable of obtaining high-quality solutions at industry-relevant scales. The results illustrate that a simple algorithm that only seeks to satisfy unit commitment, reserve, and AC power balance constraints can obtain surprisingly high-quality solutions to this AC unit commitment problem. However, a naive strategy that prioritizes reserve feasibility leads to AC infeasibility, motivating the need to design heuristics that can effectively balance reserve and AC feasibility. Finally, this work explores a parallel decomposition strategy that allows the proposed algorithm to obtain feasible solutions on large cases within the two hour time limit required by typical day-ahead market operations.

Analytical Solution for Transient Electroosmotic and Pressure-Driven Flows in Microtubes

This study focuses on deriving and presenting an infinite series as the analytical solution for transient electroosmotic and pressure-driven flows in microtubes. Such a mathematical presentation of fluid dynamics under simultaneous electric field and pressure gradients leverages governing equations derived from the generalized continuity and momentum equations simplified for laminar and axisymmetric flow. Velocity profile developments, apparent slip-induced flow rates, and shear stress distributions were analyzed by varying values of the ratio of microtube radius to Debye length and the electroosmotic slip velocity. Additionally, the “retarded time” in terms of hydraulic diameter, kinematic viscosity, and slip-induced flow rate was derived. A simpler polynomial series approximation for steady electroosmotic flow is also proposed for engineering convenience. The analytical solutions obtained in this study not only enhance the fundamental understanding of the electroosmotic flow characteristics within microtubes, emphasizing the interplay between electroosmotic and pressure-driven mechanisms, but also serve as a benchmark for validating computational fluid dynamics models for electroosmotic flow simulations in more complex flow domains. Moreover, the analytical approach aids in the parametric analysis, providing deeper insights into the impact of physical parameters on electroosmotic and pressure-driven flow behavior, which is critical for optimizing device performance in practical applications. These findings also offer insightful implications for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in healthcare, particularly enhancing the capabilities of lab-on-a-chip technologies and paving the way for future research in the development and optimization of microfluidic systems.

A single mesh approximation for modeling multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media

The control volume finite element (CVFE) approach is based on the discretization of primary flow and transport unknowns on two different meshes. The element mesh, used to represent the physical properties of the medium, differs from the control volume mesh necessary to ensure a mass conservative solution. The inherent two mesh feature of the CVFE approximation introduces inconsistency in the transport solution due to the averaging of physical and computed quantities between neighboring elements in the mesh. In this work, we present a consistent approach for modeling multiphase flow and transport in heterogeneous porous media. The approach is applied in the CVFE framework by enabling the discretization of primary unknowns on a single mesh. We combine the discretization of an element-wise, discontinuous pressure approximation with a first-order, discontinuous velocity approximation to resolve the elliptic or parabolic flow problem. The effectiveness of the formulation is achieved by exploiting the same finite element mesh as the flow problem, when updating the saturation solution. This direct mapping between the flow and transport mesh is simple yet effective for establishing a consistent solution in addition to circumventing the non-physical mass leakage exhibited in the classical CVFE method. We describe the interface approximations and the discontinuous terms needed for consistent solutions. The method is well suited to model flow in complex geometrical subsurface domains and is shown to be numerically stable while providing locally and globally mass conservative solutions. We apply the approach to several domains with complex geometrical features to emphasize the superiority of the approximation over conventional methods. The analysis shows over two orders of magnitude reduction in solution error compared to the classical CVFE. The new formulation effectively captures accurate transport solutions, even in the presence of varying material properties, without the need for mesh refinement.

Comparisons of Two-Stage Models for Flood Mitigation of Electrical Substations

We compare stochastic programming and robust optimization decision models for informing the deployment of ad hoc flood mitigation measures to protect electrical substations prior to an imminent and uncertain hurricane. In our models, the first stage captures the deployment of a fixed quantity of flood mitigation resources, and the second stage captures the operation of a potentially degraded power grid with the primary goal of minimizing load shed. To model grid operation, we introduce adaptations of the direct current (DC) and linear programming alternating current (LPAC) power flow approximation models that feature relatively complete recourse by way of an indicator variable. We apply our models to a pair of geographically realistic flooding case studies, one based on Hurricane Harvey and the other on Tropical Storm Imelda. We investigate the effect of the mitigation budget, the choice of power flow model, and the uncertainty perspective on the optimal mitigation strategy. Our results indicate the mitigation budget and uncertainty perspective are impactful, whereas choosing between the DC and LPAC power flow models is of little to no consequence. To validate our models, we assess the performance of the mitigation solutions they prescribe in an alternating current (AC) power flow model. History: Accepted by Pascal Van Hentenryck, Area Editor for Computational Modeling: Methods & Analysis. Funding: This work was supported by the Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information ( https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2023.0125 ) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository ( https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2023.0125 ). The complete IJOC Software and Data Repository is available at https://informsjoc.github.io/ .

Two-interface and thin-filament approximation in Hele-Shaw channel flow

When a viscous fluid partially fills a Hele-Shaw channel, and is pushed by a pressure difference, the fluid interface is unstable due to the Saffman–Taylor instability. We consider the evolution of a fluid region of finite extent, bounded between two interfaces, in the limit that the interfaces are close, that is, when the fluid region is a thin liquid filament separating two gases of different pressure. In this limit, we derive a second-order ‘thin-filament’ model that describes the normal velocity of the filament centreline, and evolution of the filament thickness, as functions of the thickness, centreline curvature and their derivatives. We show that the second-order terms in this model, that include the effect of transverse flow along the filament, are necessary to regularise the instability. Numerical simulation of the thin-filament model is shown to be in accordance with level-set computations of the complete two-interface model. Solutions ultimately evolve to form a bubble of rapidly increasing radius and decreasing thickness.

On dynamic fundamental diagrams: Implications for automated vehicles

The traffic fundamental diagram (FD) describes the relationships among fundamental traffic variables of flow, density, and speed. FD represents fundamental properties of traffic streams, giving insights into traffic performance. This paper presents a theoretical investigation of dynamic FD properties, derived directly from vehicle car-following (control) models to model traffic hysteresis. Analytical derivation of dynamic FD is enabled by (i) frequency-domain representation of vehicle kinematics (acceleration, speed, and position) to derive vehicle trajectories based on transfer function and (ii) continuum approximation of density and flow, measured along the derived trajectories using Edie's generalized definitions. The formulation is generic: the derivation of dynamic FD is possible with any analytical car-following (control) laws for human-driven vehicles or automated vehicles (AVs). Numerical experiments shed light on the effects of the density-flow measurement region and car-following parameters on the dynamic FD properties for an AV platoon.