Study on the dependence of reverse simulation for identifying a pollutant source on grid resolution and filter width in cavity flow

Abstract

When a hazardous substance is diffused, it is necessary to identify the pollutant source and respond immediately. However, there are many cases in which damage is caused without a clear understanding of where the pollutant source is located. There are three groups of identifying pollutant source information (Liu and Zhai, 2007): the probability method, forward method, and backward method. In our previous study, we proposed reverse simulation, which is categorized as a backward method (Abe and Kato, 2011). Numerical instability by negative diffusion is a principal problem in the backward method. In order to improve the problem, we applied a low-pass filter operation to the concentration flux in the RANS analysis. The simulation secured the numerical stability. However, reverse simulation accuracy is expected to depend on the grid resolution and filter width. In this paper, we introduce reverse simulation results in cavity flow. In particular, we survey the dependence of reverse simulation accuracy on the grid resolution and filter width. Moreover, we discuss the dependence of reverse simulation on the grid resolution and filter width with a one-dimensional diffusion equation. As a result, we found that the simulated negative diffusion varies greatly among the grid resolution and filter width. © 2012 Satoshi Abe et al.