Ensemble Kalman method for learning turbulence models from indirect observation data

Abstract

In this work, we propose using an ensemble Kalman method to learn a nonlinear eddy viscosity model, represented as a tensor basis neural network, from velocity data. Datadriven turbulence models have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional models for providing closure mapping from the mean velocities to Reynolds stresses. Most datadriven models in this category need full-field Reynolds stress data for training, which not only places stringent demand on the data generation but also makes the trained model ill-conditioned and lacks robustness. This difficulty can be alleviated by incorporating the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver in the training process. However, this would necessitate developing adjoint solvers of the RANS model, which can be challenging. Given such difficulty, we present an ensemble Kalman method with adaptive step size to train a neural network-based turbulence model by using indirect observation data. To our knowledge, this is the first such attempt in turbulence modelling. The ensemble method is first verified on the flow in a square duct, where it correctly learns the underlying turbulence models from velocity data. Then, the generalizability of the learned model is evaluated on a family of separated flows over periodic hills. It is demonstrated that the turbulence model learned in one flow can predict similar flows in different geometries.