Geometrically parametrised reduced order models for studying the hysteresis of the Coanda effect in finite element-based incompressible fluid dynamics

This article presents a general reduced order model (ROM) framework for addressing fluid dynamics problems involving time-dependent geometric parametrisations. The framework integrates Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Empirical Cubature Method (ECM) hyper-reduction techniques to effectively approximate incompressible computational fluid dynamics simulations. To demonstrate the applicability of this framework, we investigate the behaviour of a planar contraction-expansion channel geometry exhibiting bifurcating solutions known as the Coanda effect. By introducing time-dependent deformations to the channel geometry, we observe hysteresis phenomena in the solution.

The paper provides a detailed formulation of the framework, including the stabilised finite elements full order model (FOM) and ROM, with a particular focus on the considerations related to geometric parametrisation. Subsequently, we present the results obtained from the simulations, analysing the solution behaviour in a phase space for the fluid velocity at a probe point, considered as the Quantity of Interest (QoI). Through qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the ROMs and hyper-reduced order models (HROMs), we demonstrate their ability to accurately reproduce the complete solution field and the QoI.

While HROMs offer significant computational speedup, enabling efficient simulations, they do exhibit some errors, particularly for testing trajectories. However, their value lies in applications where the detection of the Coanda effect holds paramount importance, even if the selected bifurcation branch is incorrect. Alternatively, for more precise results, HROMs with lower speedups can be employed.