Marko Seslija

A discrete exterior approach to structure-preserving discretization of distributed-parameter port-Hamiltonian systems

Abstract This paper addresses the issue of structure-preserving discretization of open distributed-parameter systems with Hamiltonian dynamics. Employing the formalism of discrete exterior calculus, we introduce a simplicial Dirac structure as a discrete analogue of the Stokes–Dirac structure and demonstrate that it provides a natural framework for deriving finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems that emulate their infinite-dimensional counterparts. The spatial domain, in the continuous theory represented by a finite-dimensional smooth manifold with boundary, is replaced by a homological manifold-like simplicial complex and its augmented circumcentric dual. The smooth differential forms, in discrete setting, are mirrored by cochains on the primal and dual complexes, while the discrete exterior derivative is defined to be the coboundary operator. This approach of discrete differential geometry, rather than discretizing the partial differential equations, allows to first discretize the underlying Stokes–Dirac structure and then to impose the corresponding finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian dynamics. In this manner, a number of important intrinsically topological and geometrical properties of the system are preserved.

Reaction-Diffusion Systems in the Port-Hamiltonian Framework

Abstract Reaction-diffusion systems model the evolution of the constituents distributed in space under the influence of chemical reactions and diffusion. These systems arise naturally in chemistry, but can also be used to model dynamical processes beyond the realm of chemistry such as in biology, ecology, geology, and physics. In this paper, by adopting the viewpoint of port-based modeling, we cast reaction-diffusion systems into the port-Hamiltonian framework. Aside from offering conceptually a clear geometric interpretation formalized by a Stokes-Dirac structure, a port-Hamiltonian perspective allows to treat these dissipative systems as interconnected and thus makes their analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, more accessible from a modern dynamical systems and control theory point of view. This modeling approach permits us to draw immediately some conclusions regarding passivity and stability of reaction-diffusion systems. Furthermore, by adopting a discrete differential geometry-based approach and discretizing the reaction-diffusion system in the port-Hamiltonian form, apart from preserving a geometric structure, a compartmental model analogous to the standard one is obtained.

Port-Hamiltonian systems on discrete manifolds

Abstract This paper offers a geometric framework for modeling port-Hamiltonian systems on discrete manifolds. The simplicial Dirac structure, capturing the topological laws of the system, is defined in terms of primal and dual cochains related by the coboundary operators. This finite-dimensional Dirac structure, as discrete analogue of the canonical Stokes-Dirac structure, allows for the formulation of finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems that emulate the behaviour of the open distributed-parameter systems with Hamiltonian dynamics.

Reduction of Stokes-Dirac structures and gauge symmetry in port-Hamiltonian systems

Stokes-Dirac structures are infinite-dimensional Dirac structures defined in terms of differential forms on a smooth manifold with boundary. These Dirac structures lay down a geometric framework for the formulation of Hamiltonian systems with a nonzero boundary energy flow. Simplicial triangulation of the underlaying manifold leads to the so-called simplicial Dirac structures, discrete analogues of Stokes-Dirac structures, and thus provides a natural framework for deriving finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems that emulate their infinite-dimensional counterparts. The port-Hamiltonian systems defined with respect to Stokes-Dirac and simplicial Dirac structures exhibit gauge and a discrete gauge symmetry, respectively. In this paper, employing Poisson reduction we offer a unified technique for the symmetry reduction of a generalized canonical infinite-dimensional Dirac structure to the Poisson structure associated with Stokes-Dirac structures and of a fine-dimensional Dirac structure to simplicial Dirac structures. We demonstrate this Poisson scheme on a physical example of the vibrating string.

Extrapolation-based approach to optimization with constraints determined by the Robin boundary problem for the Laplace equation

This paper considers the application of extrapolation techniques in finding approximate solutions of some optimization problems with constraints defined by the Robin boundary problem for the Laplace equation. When applied extrapolation techniques produce very accurate solutions of the boundary problems on relatively coarse meshes, but this paper demonstrates that this is not a real restriction when dealing with optimization problems. Producing a solution of continuous problem by polynomial extrapolation based on the low-order discrete problem solutions significantly reduces both computational time and memory. The present paper illustrates this approach using finite-difference and finite-element methods, and finally makes a brief remark about some tacit engineering assumptions regarding numerical solutions of conductive media problems by construction of equivalent resistor networks.