Section: New Results

Fourier approach to Lagrangian vortex detection

Participants : A. El Aouni , H. Yahia , K. Daoudi , K. Minaoui .

We study the transport properties of coherent vortices over a finite time duration. Here we reveal that such vortices can be identified based on frequency-domain representation of Lagrangian trajectories. We use Fourier analysis to convert particles' trajectories from their time domain to a presentation in the frequency domain. We then identify and extract coherent vortices as material surfaces along which particles' trajectories share similar frequencies. Our method identifies all coherent vortices in an automatic manner, showing high vortices' monitoring capacity. We illustrate our new method by identifying and extracting Lagrangian coherent vortices in different two-and three-dimensional flows.

Publication: Chaos, American Institute of Physics, HAL