Observers for compressible Navier-Stokes equation

We consider a multi-dimensional model of a compressible fluid in a bounded domain. We want to estimate the density and velocity of the fluid, based on the observations for only velocity. We build an observer exploiting the symmetries of the fluid dynamics laws. Our main result is that for the linearised system with full observations of the velocity field, we can find an observer which converges to the true state of the system at any desired convergence rate for finitely many but arbitrarily large number of Fourier modes. Our one-dimensional numerical results corroborate the results for the linearised, fully observed system, and also show similar convergence for the full nonlinear system and also for the case when the velocity field is observed only over a subdomain.

Symmetry-preserving observers for some water tank problems: theory and application to a shallow water model

In this paper we consider a tank containing fluid and we want to estimate the horizontal currents when the fluid surface height is measured. The fluid motion is described by shallow water equations in two horizontal dimensions. We build a simple non-linear observer which takes advantage of the symmetries of fluid dynamics laws. As a result its structure is based on convolutions with smooth isotropic kernels, and the observer is remarkably robust to noise. We prove the convergence of the observer around a steady-state. In numerical applications local exponential convergence is expected. The observer is also applied to the problem of predicting the ocean circulation. Realistic simulations illustrate the relevance of the approach compared with some standard oceanography techniques.

The Back and Forth Nudging algorithm for data assimilation problems: theoretical results on transport equations

In this paper, we consider the back and forth nudging algorithm that has been introduced for data assimilation purposes. It consists of iteratively and alternately solving forward and backward in time the model equation, with a feedback term to the observations. We consider the case of 1-dimensional transport equations, either viscous or inviscid, linear or not (Burgers equation). Our aim is to prove some theoretical results on the convergence, and convergence properties, of this algorithm. We show that for non viscous equations (both linear transport and Burgers), the convergence of the algorithm holds under observability conditions. Convergence can also be proven for viscous linear transport equations under some strong hypothesis, but not for viscous Burgers equation. Moreover, the convergence rate is always exponential in time. We also notice that the forward and backward system of equations is well posed when no nudging term is considered.