Dynamically orthogonal field equations for continuous stochastic dynamical systems
In this work we derive an exact, closed set of evolution equations for general continuous stochastic fields
described by a Stochastic Partial Differential Equation (SPDE). By hypothesizing a decomposition of the
solution field into a mean and stochastic dynamical component, we derive a system of field equations
consisting of a Partial Differential Equation (PDE) for the mean field, a family of PDEs for the orthonormal
basis that describe the stochastic subspace where the stochasticity `lives’ as well as a system of Stochastic
Differential Equations that defines how the stochasticity evolves in the time varying stochastic subspace.
These new evolution equations are derived directly from the original SPDE, using nothing more than
a dynamically orthogonal condition on the representation of the solution. If additional restrictions are
assumed on the form of the representation, we recover both the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition
equations and the generalized Polynomial Chaos equations. We apply this novel methodology to two
cases of two-dimensional viscous fluid flows described by the NavierStokes equations and we compare
our results with Monte Carlo simulations.