2023 Distinguished Paper Award (DPA) in the Numerical Combustion Colloquium
In this 13-part series of articles, The Combustion Institute recognizes the 2023
Distinguished Papers selected from among the scientific papers presented during the 39th International Symposium on Combustion. Congratulations to Kamila Zdybal, James C. Sutherland, and Alessandro Parente for winning the DPA in the Numerical Combustion colloquium.
The title of the winning paper in the Numerical Combustion colloquium is, “
Manifold-informed state vector subset for reduced-order modeling." Dr. Kamila Zdybal was the representative for this group of researchers and was asked why they chose to conduct this research. She stated that in this work, they wanted to provide the numerical combustion community with a method to improve the low-dimensional representations of reacting flows. In the combustion community, principal component analysis (PCA) became a popular method to reduce the high dimensionality of the thermo-chemical state-space. However, there are some outstanding challenges with the type of low-dimensional representations that it provides, particularly non-uniqueness and steep gradients in the low-dimensional space. This can significantly hamper the performance of reduced-order models of reacting flows.
Many authors in the past have selected a subset of the thermo-chemical state variables prior to dimensionality reduction. However, these selections were performed qualitatively, often taking fuel and oxidizer components and major combustion products. They wanted to instead provide a quantitative method for subsetting the thermo-chemical state such that it directly optimizes the low-dimensional representation.
Dr. Zdybal and the group are hopeful that researchers will be able to quantify and improve the quality of low-dimensional manifolds found in turbulent flames by building upon their methods. The methodology that they have developed in this work can be easily extended in the future to other dimensionality reduction techniques, beyond PCA. Presently, the work can help researchers who build reduced-order models of turbulent combustion. The group advocates for quantitative measures of manifold quality to always be incorporated into reduced-order modeling workflows.
In recent years, the number of combustion research groups that are working in the area of building reduced-order models of turbulent combustion has increased. The work of Drs. Zdybal, Sutherland and Parente can support researchers working in this sphere.
The research for this distinguished paper took place at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in collaboration with the University of Utah. It took about one year to complete. However, the ideas for improving the low-dimensional manifolds have been present at these institutions for many years.
Over 1,500 papers were submitted to the 39th International Symposium on Combustion. All papers were categorized into one of thirteen colloquia, and then distributed to Colloquium Coordinators and Co-Chairs. Each paper received at least three reviews from qualified individuals through the peer-review process. Less than 50 percent of the papers submitted were accepted for presentation.
Following the symposium, one paper presented in each colloquium is awarded the distinction of Distinguished Paper. Visit here to view the presentation. The 13 Distinguished Papers undergo committee review for consideration for the Silver Combustion Medal. A paper selected for this honor exemplifies quality, achievement, and significance to advance a field of combustion science, and was awarded during the 40th International Symposium in Milan, Italy.
