Identification and dynamics prediction of a plane vortex structure based on a mathematical model of a point vortices system

The aim of the article is developing and analyse an algorithmic method for solution finding of one inverse problem of 2d vortex fluid dynamics. It is identification and prediction of the flow structure evolution of the based on the data on fluid velocity vectors in a set of reference points. Theoretical analysis of convergence and adequacy of the method is difficult due to the ill-posedness typical of inverse problems, these issues studied experimentally. Methods. The proposed method uses a mathematical model of a point vortex dynamics system for identification and prediction flow structures. The parameters of the model system are found by minimising the functional that evaluates the closeness of the original and model vectors fields at the reference points. The prediction of the vortex structure dynamics is based on the solution of the Cauchy problem for a system of ordinary differential equations with the parameters found in the first stage. Results. As a result of the calculations, we found it out: the algorithm converges to the desired minimum from a wide range of initial approximations; the algorithm converges in all cases when the identified structure consists of sufficiently distant vortices; the forecast of the development of the current gives good results with a steady flow; if the above conditions are violated, the part of successful calculations decreases, false identification and an erroneous forecast may occur; with the convergence of the method, the coordinates and circulation of the eddies of the model system are close to the characteristics of the eddies of the test configurations; the structures of the streamlines of the flows are topologically equivalent; convergence depends more on location than on the number of vectors used for identification. Conclusion. An algorithm for solving the problem of identifying and the evolution forecast of a 2d vortex flow structure is proposed when the fluid velocity vectors in a finite set of reference points are known. The method showed its high efficiency when using from 40 to 200 reference points. The results of the study make it possible to recommend the proposed algorithm for identifying flat vortex structures, which consist of vortices separated from each other.