Constrained Sparse Galerkin Regression

Abstract: Although major advances have been achieved over the past decades for the reduction and identification of linear systems, deriving nonlinear low-order models still is a chal- lenging task. In this work, we develop a new data-driven framework to identify nonlinear reduced-order models of a fluid by combining dimensionality reductions techniques (e.g. proper orthogonal decomposition) and sparse regression techniques from machine learn- ing. In particular, we extend the sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) algorithm to enforce physical constraints in the regression, namely energy-preserving quadratic nonlinearities. The resulting models, hereafter referred to as Galerkin regression models, incorporate many beneficial aspects of Galerkin projection, but without the need for a full-order or high-fidelity solver to project the Navier-Stokes equations. Instead, the most parsimonious nonlinear model is determined that is consistent with observed mea- surement data and satisfies necessary constraints. Galerkin regression models also readily generalize to include higher-order nonlinear terms that model the effect of truncated modes. The effectiveness of Galerkin regression is demonstrated on two different flow configurations: the two-dimensional flow past a circular cylinder and the shear-driven cavity flow. For both cases, the accuracy of the identified models compare favorably against reduced-order models obtained from a standard Galerkin projection procedure. Present results highlight the importance of cubic nonlinearities in the construction of accurate nonlinear low-dimensional approximations of the flow systems, something which cannot be readily obtained using a standard Galerkin projection of the Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, the entire code base for our constrained sparse Galerkin regression algorithm is freely available online.