Image Analysis for Validation of Simulations of a Fluid Mix Problem

As computer simulations gain acceptance for the modeling of complex physical phenomena, there is an increasing need to validate these simulation codes by comparing them to experiments. Currently, this is done qualitatively, using a visual approach. This is obviously very subjective and more quantitative metrics are needed, especially to identify simulations which are closer to experiments than other simulations. In this paper, we show how image processing techniques can be effectively used in such comparisons. Using an example from the problem of mixing of two fluids, we show that we can quantitatively compare experimental and simulation images by extracting higher level features to characterize the objects in the images.