HOSVD-SR: A Physics-Based Deep Learning Framework for Super-Resolution in Fluid Dynamics

In this work we present a novel methodology that combines Higher Order Singular Value Decomposition (HOSVD) with Deep Learning (DL) techniques for super-resolution in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and sparse experimental datasets. This approach, referred to as HOSVD-SR 1, integrates modal decomposition techniques with Machine Learning (ML), creating a hybrid model grounded in the underlying physics of the studied phenomena and capable of enhancing data dimensionality. The proposed methodology leverages HOSVD, a robust variant of SVD, ideal for high dimensional data, which extracts the singular values and modes (spatial and temporal) associated with each dimension of the database in tensor form, reducing noise and addressing challenges related to turbulent flows. HOSVD is employed to capture the key physical patterns from a under-resolved fluid mechanics database. Each spatial mode matrix serves as input for a decoder/autoencoder type neural network trained to increase the dimensionality of the tensor and accurately reconstruct experimental and CFD-like databases. The HOSVD-SR methodology has been tested on both two- and three-dimensional numerical databases of flow past a circular cylinder, as well as an experimental database of circular cylinder wake flows under a turbulent flow regime. HOSVD-SR has successfully addressed both laminar and turbulent cases, outperforming a previously proposed SVD-based methodology in terms of accuracy. HOSVD-SR is physics-based, making it a robust and highly generalizable method that can also be implemented for other data generation approaches in fluid mechanics problems.