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Title: Unsupervised machine learning based on non-negative tensor factorization for analyzing reactive-mixing

Journal Article · · Journal of Computational Physics
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)

Analysis of reactive-diffusion simulations representing complex mixing processes requires a large number of independent model runs. For each high-fidelity model simulation, the model inputs are varied and the predicted mixing behavior is represented by temporal and spatial changes in species concentration. It is then required to discern how the model inputs (such as diffusivity, dispersion, anisotropy, and velocity field properties) impact the mixing process. This task is challenging and typically involves interpretation of large model outputs representing temporal and spatial changes of species concentration within the model domain. Yet, the task can be automated and substantially simplified by applying Machine Learning (ML) methods. Here, we present an application of an unsupervised ML method (called NTFk) using Non-negative Tensor Factorization (NTF) coupled with a custom clustering procedure based on k-means to reveal the temporal and spatial features in product concentrations. An attractive and unique aspect of the proposed ML method is that it ensures the extracted features are non-negative, which is important to obtain a meaningful deconstruction of the mixing processes. The ML methodology is applied to a large set of high-resolution finite-element model simulations representing anisotropic reaction-diffusion processes in perturbed vortex-based velocity fields. The applied finite-element method ensures that spatial and temporal species concentration are always non-negative, even in the case of high anisotropic contrasts. The simulated reaction is a fast irreversible bimolecular reaction A+B→C , where species A and B react to form species C. The reactive-diffusion model input parameters that control mixing include properties of the velocity field (such as vortex structures), anisotropic dispersion, and molecular diffusion. We demonstrate the applicability of the ML feature extraction method to produce a meaningful deconstruction of model outputs to discriminate between different physical processes impacting the reactants, their mixing, and the spatial distribution of the product C. The introduced ML analysis allowed us to identify additive temporal and spatial features that characterize mixing behavior. The application of the proposed NTFk approach is not limited to reactive-mixing. NTFk can be readily applied to any observed or simulated datasets that can be represented as tensors (multi-dimensional arrays) and have separable latent signatures or features.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001; AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1529535
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1527034
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-20868
Journal Information:
Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 395, Issue C; ISSN 0021-9991
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 20 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Figures / Tables (18)