Below are some animations related to fluid mechanics.
  1. Animated Solution of Burgers' Equation
    This movie compares the viscous (red curve) and inviscid (green curve) solutions of
    Burgers' equation. The inviscid case illustrates the formation of a shock.
    In the viscous case a shock does not form because the nonlinear steepening is
    balanced by viscous diffusion. The initial profile is a smooth cubic spline.
    Reference: Linear and Nonlinear Waves, by G.B. Whitham, Wiley, 1974.
  2. Soliton Interaction
    Shown in this movie are two solitons interacting in accordance with the KdV equation.
    An interesting observation is that the solitons appear to interact linearly with their shape undistorted.
    The only hint that a nonlinear interaction took place is through the phase shift with which the
    two solitons emerge. In the KdV equation nonlinear steepening is balanced by dispersion.
    Reference: Solitons - An Introduction, by P.G. Drazin and R.S. Johnson, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
  3. Mixed Layer Simulation
    In this movie the annual cycle of the oceanic mixed layer is animated. Plotted along the horizontal
    axis is the water temperature (in C) and along the vertical is the depth (in m). This simulation
    corresponds to Station Papa located in the North Pacific (approx. 1000 km west of the northern tip of
    Vancouver Island) for the period January 1961 - December 1961. The movie illustrates a well defined
    thermocline forming during the summer - fall period and its erosion during the late fall - winter period.
    At Papa the mixed layer depth fluctuates between 20 m (in the summer) and about 150 m (in the winter).
    For more details see: Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 28, pp. 1624-1641, 1998.
  4. Surface Gravity Current Simulation
    The above movie animates a two-dimensional flow in a long channel containing two inviscid, immiscible,
    incompressible fluids. The left wall of the channel is located at x=0. A lighter fluid is initially placed in the top
    left end of the channel and released. Buoyancy then drives the flow forming a surface gravity current.
    In this simulation the surface gravity current is also subjected to a uniform heat flux which acts to enhance
    the buoyancy force. This flow is modelled using the shallow-water equations.
    For more details see: Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 170, pp. 1-25, 2004.
  5. Animated Shear Flow Pattern
    This movie shows the flow pattern of a viscous incompressible fluid past a rotating circular cylinder.
    The far-field flow has uniform shear. For more details see: Conference Presentation at CSFD 2004
  6. Thermal Plume Problem
    Here are some preliminary results illustrating the temperature field emanating from a heated tube.

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