Tracking space-filling structures in turbulent flows

We present a novel approach for tracking space-filling features, i.e. a set of features which covers the entire domain. In contrast to previous work, we determine the assignment between features from successive time steps by computing a globally optimal, maximum-weight, maximal matching on a weighted, bi-partite graph. We demonstrate the method´s functionality by tracking dissipation elements (DEs), a space-filling structure definition from turbulent flow analysis. The abilitytotrack DEs over time enables researchers from fluid mechanics to extend their analysis beyond the assessment of static flow fields to time-dependent settings.