Fluid Deformation in Random Unsteady Flow

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Lester, Daniel, Dentz, Marco
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Lester, Daniel
Dentz, Marco
author_facet Lester, Daniel
Dentz, Marco
contents Fluid deformation controls myriad processes in random flows including mixing and dispersion, stress development in complex fluids, colloid transport and deposition, droplet breakup and emulsification, fluid-structure interaction, chemical reactions and biological activity. Despite this, fundamental aspects are not well understood, including the link between the Lagrangian velocity gradient tensor $\boldsymbolε$ and deformation measures such as Lyapunov exponents ($λ_{\infty,i}$), their finite-time counterparts (FTLEs) and the right Cauchy-Green tensor $\mathbf{C}$. We address these knowledge gaps by developing an \emph{ab initio} stochastic model of fluid deformation in ergodic and stationary random unsteady flows. We show that although the Lagrangian velocity process is non-Markovian and non-Fickian, temporal decorrelation in unsteady random flows results in Fickian evolution of $\boldsymbolε$. Application of an objective coordinate transform renders $\boldsymbolε^\prime$ upper triangular, the basis vectors of which exponentially converge to Lyapunov vectors. As such, the diagonal components of $\boldsymbolε^\prime$ correspond to increments of the Lyapunov spectra, while the off-diagonal components objectively quantify shear and vorticity. This leads to a stochastic model of Lagrangian fluid deformation as a simple Brownian process that provides a direct link between $\boldsymbolε^\prime$ and fluid deformation. We develop closed-form expressions for the evolution of $\mathbf{C}$ and the FTLEs, and apply the stochastic model to numerical results for a model 2D unsteady flow and 3D forced homogeneous isotropic turbulence, returning excellent agreement with direct calculations of deformation measures.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_01668
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
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spellingShingle Fluid Deformation in Random Unsteady Flow
Lester, Daniel
Dentz, Marco
Fluid Dynamics
Fluid deformation controls myriad processes in random flows including mixing and dispersion, stress development in complex fluids, colloid transport and deposition, droplet breakup and emulsification, fluid-structure interaction, chemical reactions and biological activity. Despite this, fundamental aspects are not well understood, including the link between the Lagrangian velocity gradient tensor $\boldsymbolε$ and deformation measures such as Lyapunov exponents ($λ_{\infty,i}$), their finite-time counterparts (FTLEs) and the right Cauchy-Green tensor $\mathbf{C}$. We address these knowledge gaps by developing an \emph{ab initio} stochastic model of fluid deformation in ergodic and stationary random unsteady flows. We show that although the Lagrangian velocity process is non-Markovian and non-Fickian, temporal decorrelation in unsteady random flows results in Fickian evolution of $\boldsymbolε$. Application of an objective coordinate transform renders $\boldsymbolε^\prime$ upper triangular, the basis vectors of which exponentially converge to Lyapunov vectors. As such, the diagonal components of $\boldsymbolε^\prime$ correspond to increments of the Lyapunov spectra, while the off-diagonal components objectively quantify shear and vorticity. This leads to a stochastic model of Lagrangian fluid deformation as a simple Brownian process that provides a direct link between $\boldsymbolε^\prime$ and fluid deformation. We develop closed-form expressions for the evolution of $\mathbf{C}$ and the FTLEs, and apply the stochastic model to numerical results for a model 2D unsteady flow and 3D forced homogeneous isotropic turbulence, returning excellent agreement with direct calculations of deformation measures.
title Fluid Deformation in Random Unsteady Flow
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01668