Below are some animations related to fluid mechanics.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Thermal Plume Problem
Here are some preliminary results illustrating the temperature
field emanating from a heated tube.
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