Identification of geometrical models of interface evolution for dendritic crystal growth

This Letter introduces a method for identifying geometrical models of interface evolution, directly from experimental imaging data. These local growth models relate normal growth velocity to curvature and its derivatives estimated along the growing interface. Such models can reproduce many qualitative features of dendritic crystal growth as well as predict quantitatively its early stages of evolution. Numerical simulations and experimental crystal growth data are used to demonstrate the applicability of this approach.