Kinetic Solvers with Adaptive Mesh in Phase Space

An Adaptive Mesh in Phase Space (AMPS) methodology has been developed for solving multi-dimensional kinetic equations by the discrete velocity method. A Cartesian mesh for both configuration (r) and velocity (v) spaces is produced using a tree of trees data structure. The mesh in r-space is automatically generated around embedded boundaries and dynamically adapted to local solution properties. The mesh in v-space is created on-the-fly for each cell in r-space. Mappings between neighboring v-space trees implemented for the advection operator in configuration space. We have developed new algorithms for solving the full Boltzmann and linear Boltzmann equations with AMPS. Several recent innovations were used to calculate the discrete Boltzmann collision integral with dynamically adaptive mesh in velocity space: importance sampling, multi-point projection method, and the variance reduction method. We have developed an efficient algorithm for calculating the linear Boltzmann collision integral for elastic and inelastic collisions in a Lorentz gas. New AMPS technique has been demonstrated for simulations of hypersonic rarefied gas flows, ion and electron kinetics in weakly ionized plasma, radiation and light particle transport through thin films, and electron streaming in semiconductors. We have shown that AMPS allows minimizing the number of cells in phase space to reduce computational cost and memory usage for solving challenging kinetic problems

Unstructured mesh generation and adaptivity

An overview of current unstructured mesh generation and adaptivity techniques is given. Basic building blocks taken from the field of computational geometry are first described. Various practical mesh generation techniques based on these algorithms are then constructed and illustrated with examples. Issues of adaptive meshing and stretched mesh generation for anisotropic problems are treated in subsequent sections. The presentation is organized in an education manner, for readers familiar with computational fluid dynamics, wishing to learn more about current unstructured mesh techniques

Investigation into the Aerodynamics of Swashplateless Rotors Using CFD-CSD Analysis

This study obtains a better understanding of the aerodynamics of integrated trailing edge flap (TEF) based swashplateless rotors. Both two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) analysis/simulations are performed to understand the behavior of TEF airfoils and integrated TEF based swashplateless rotors. The 2D aerodynamics of TEF airfoils is explored in detail. A semi-empirical approach is developed for modeling drag for TEF airfoils in steady flows based on baseline airfoil drag data alone. Extensive 2D CFD simulations are performed for a wide range of flow conditions in order to better understand various aspects of the aerodynamics of TEF airfoils. The trends in the airloads (lift, drag, pitching moment, hinge moment) for TEF airfoils are obtained. Nonlinear phenomena such as flow separation, shocks and unsteady vortex shedding are investigated, and the flow conditions and trends associated with them are studied. The effect of airfoil properties such as thickness and overhang are studied. Various approaches are used to model the effect of gaps at the leading edge of the flap. An approximate ``gap averaging'' technique is developed, which provides good predictions of steady airloads at almost the same computational cost as a simulation where the gap is not modeled. Direct modeling of the gap is done by using a patched mesh in the gap region. To solve problems (such as poor grid quality/control and poor convergence) that are associated with the patched mesh simulations, an alternate approach using overlapping meshes is used. It is seen that for TEF airfoils, the presence of gaps adversely affects the effectiveness of the flap. The change in airloads is not negligible, especially at the relatively higher flap deflections associated with swashplateless TEF rotors. Finally, uncoupled and coupled computational fluid/structural dynamics (CFD-CSD) simulations of conventional (baseline) and swashplateless TEF rotors is performed in hovering flight. The CFD-CSD code is validated against experiment and good agreement is observed. It is observed that the baseline UH-60 rotor performs better than the swashplateless UH-60 rotor. For an untwisted NACA0012 airfoil based rotor, the performance is similar for the baseline and swashplateless configurations. The effect of gaps on the performance of swashplateless TEF rotors is also investigated. It is seen that the presence of chordwise gaps significantly affects the effectiveness of the TEF to control the rotor. Spanwise gaps also affect the performance of swashplateless rotors but their effect is not as significant

Computational Fluid Dynamics Testing for Drag Reduction of An Aircraft Laser Turret

A computational study was conducted on the use of aft-mounted fairings for passive drag reduction on a sphere at Re=866,000. The sphere dimensions and operating Reynolds number were selected to approximate the flow around a proposed aircraft laser turret for which experimental data was available. To establish the validity of the computational model, flow predictions were compared to sphere data available in the open literature. The model, exercised in both the laminar and turbulent modes, showed good agreement with the published data. Two proposed laser turret fairings were then evaluated computationally: a large fairing (beginning at 49.5 degrees past the sphere apex) and a small fairing (beginning at 58.95 degrees past the sphere apex). Existing wind tunnel models were used to generate axisymmetric computational grids that approximated the geometry of these models. The computed flow field and associated drag reduction were comparable to the experimental results obtained from the wind tunnel testing. Differences in drag from the model to the experiment were explained by the axisymmetric simplifications made in the model. Finally, a new, optimized fairing model was designed which eliminated the separation zone on the aft portion of the sphere. The optimized model predicted double the drag reduction compared to the large fairing computational model

Optimizing the geometrical accuracy of curvilinear meshes

This paper presents a method to generate valid high order meshes with optimized geometrical accuracy. The high order meshing procedure starts with a linear mesh, that is subsequently curved without taking care of the validity of the high order elements. An optimization procedure is then used to both untangle invalid elements and optimize the geometrical accuracy of the mesh. Standard measures of the distance between curves are considered to evaluate the geometrical accuracy in planar two-dimensional meshes, but they prove computationally too costly for optimization purposes. A fast estimate of the geometrical accuracy, based on Taylor expansions of the curves, is introduced. An unconstrained optimization procedure based on this estimate is shown to yield significant improvements in the geometrical accuracy of high order meshes, as measured by the standard Haudorff distance between the geometrical model and the mesh. Several examples illustrate the beneficial impact of this method on CFD solutions, with a particular role of the enhanced mesh boundary smoothness.Comment: Submitted to JC

Institute for Computational Mechanics in Propulsion (ICOMP)

The Institute for Computational Mechanics in Propulsion (ICOMP) is a combined activity of Case Western Reserve University, Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and NASA Lewis. The purpose of ICOMP is to develop techniques to improve problem solving capabilities in all aspects of computational mechanics related to propulsion. The activities at ICOMP during 1991 are described

Aerodynamic detailed design of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with VTOL capabilities

ALF/ENGAER 139424-L Vasco Luís Martins Ferreira Coelho. Examination Committee: Chairperson: BGEN/EngEl 119923-E Rui Fernando da Costa Ferreira; Supervisor: MAJ/EngAer 131603-G Joao Vítor Aguiar Vieira Caetano, Dr. Frederico José Prata Rente Reis Afonso; Member of the Committee: Prof. Dr. Afzal SulemanEsta tese está integrada num projeto de desenvolvimento de um veículo aéreo não tripulado capaz de efetuar descolagem e aterragem vertical, e tendo hidrogénio como principal fonte de energia utilizando para tal uma célula de combustível. A dissertação foca-se nas fases de desenvolvimento preliminar e detalhada no que diz respeito a estudos aerodinâmicos e desempenho em voo. A fase preliminar abrange a conceção da asa e da cauda, recorrendo ao software XFLR5, em conjunto com uma estimativa da resistência aerodinâmica total da aeronave, recorrendo a expressões semi-empíricas. Para a análise detalhada, foi utilizado o software de mecânica de fluidos computacional Fluent. A escolha do modelo de turbulência SST, em conjunto com o modelo de transição y_Re0 , é validada pelas simulação 2D do perfil SG6042, apresentando resultados consistentes com os dados experimentais. A polar aerodinâmica da asa é obtida através da simulações 3D da mesma para vários ângulos de ataque. Por forma a melhorar as propriedades aerodinâmicas da asa, foi aplicada torção à ponta da asa, movendo a região inicial da perda da ponta da asa para a raiz. O impacto do sistema de propulsão vertical na resistência aerodinâmica em voo cruzeiro é avaliado através da realização de testes em túnel de vento e simulações em Fluent. Simulações de toda a aeronave concluem que, dependendo do alinhamento dos rotores, a resistência aerodinâmica da aeronave varia entre 16.32 e 19.22 N para voo cruzeiro, resultando num tempo total de voo entre 3H05 e 3H25.This thesis is part of a project to design an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of performing vertical take-off and landing, and having hydrogen as its main energy source by using a fuel cell. The present dissertation is focused on the preliminary and detailed design phases regarding aerodynamics and flight performance studies. The preliminary phase encompasses the wing and tail design, with the aid of XFLR5, together with an estimate of the total aircraft drag by resorting to semi-empirical expressions. A longitudinal static stability analysis is conducted, and the unmanned aerial vehicle characteristics are presented after the preliminary phase of the project. For the detailed analysis, Fluent was chosen as the computational fluid dynamics software to be used. 2D simulation over the SG6042 wing airfoil validated the choice of the SST turbulence model, coupled with the y_ Re0 transition model, as the results were consistent with experimental data. The drag polar of the wing is obtained by simulating the 3D wing at various angles of attack. To enhance the wing aerodynamic properties, twist was given to the wingtip, moving the stall region from the wingtip to the root. The impact of the vertical propulsion system on the drag at cruise is assessed by performing wind tunnel tests and simulations on Fluent. Simulations of the entire aircraft conclude that, depending on the stopping position of the rotors, the drag of the aircraft varies between 16.32 and 19.22 N for cruise, which results in a total flight time between 3H05 and 3H25.N/

A Volume-Force Synthetic Disturbance Approach for High-Fidelity of Unsteady Fluid Structure Interactions

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the momentum source model, for generating synthetic vortical disturbance field in numerical simulations of unsteady fluid-structure interactions, access limitations of this approach, to find requirements for the computational domain, space and time resolution, and apply this model to investigate selected physical problems. For this reason a comprehensive parametric study of volume-force based method of generating spectral synthetic turbulence inside the computational domain is conducted first. The method is then extended to synthesize turbulence with arbitrary energy spectrum. The synthetic turbulence is generated through momentum source terms in Navier-Stokes equations, and the developed numerical procedure is shown to reproduce any desired energy spectrum. Additionally, the approach is extended to be applicable to boundary layer type of flows. Then, selected applications of the momentum source model are considered including: gust-airfoil unsteady interactions, turbulence-airfoil unsteady interactions, Analysis of the turbulence effect on acoustic radiation of a novel airfoil design with an embedded cross-ow fan, the effect of turbulence intensity on wake vortex evolution. In particular the effects of oblique vortical gust modes on airfoil unsteady aerodynamic and acoustic responses due to its interaction with an impinging 3D time-harmonic gust and turbulence are addressed first. Several analytical gust-airfoil interaction models are reviewed and extended to address 3D inviscid gust responses. The results of numerical simulations performed using ANSYS Fluent software are compared against analytical solutions. Additionally, the turbulence-airfoil aerodynamic and aeroacoustic response is analyzed. Next, noise signature of a wing with an embedded Cross-Flow Fan (CFF) in turbulent air is investigated. Comparative large-scale 2D simulations are performed for 4 cases including a baseline NACA 65(3)-221 airfoil with the Fowler flap, and the same airfoils with embedded stationary and rotating CFF, as well as, rotating CFF in turbulent air. Lastly, the uniform ow momentum source model is implemented in OpenFOAM and simulation process is specified in order to obtain stationary decaying turbulence. Effect of turbulence intensity on wake vortex evolution is studied with the use of the momentum source model

Lattice Boltzmann Methods for Wind Energy Analysis

An estimate of the United States wind potential conducted in 2011 found that the energy available at an altitude of 80 meters is approximately triple the wind energy available 50 meters above ground. In 2012, 43% of all new electricity generation installed in the U.S. (13.1 GW) came from wind power. The majority of this power, 79%, comes from large utility scale turbines that are being manufactured at unprecedented sizes. Existing wind plants operate with a capacity factor of only approximately 30%. Measurements have shown that the turbulent wake of a turbine persists for many rotor diameters, inducing increased vibration and wear on downwind turbines. Power losses can be as high as 20-30% in operating wind plants, due solely to complex wake interactions occurring in wind plant arrays. It is my objective to accurately predict the generation and interaction of turbine wakes and their interaction with downwind turbines and topology by means of numerical simulation with high-performance parallel computer systems. Numerical simulation is already utilized to plan wind plant layouts. However, available computational tools employ severe geometric simplifications to model wake interactions and are geared to providing rough estimates on desktop PCs. A three dimensional simulation tool designed for modern parallel computers based upon lattice Boltzmann methods for fluid-dynamics, a general six-degree-of-freedom motion solver, and foundational beam solvers has been proposed to meet this simulation need. In this text, the software development, verification, and validation are detailed. Fundamental computational fluid dynamics issues of boundary conditions and turbulence modeling are examined through classic cases (Cavity, Jeffery-Hammel, Kelvin-Helmholtz, Pressure wave, Vorticity wave, Backward facing step, Cylinder in cross-flow, Airfoils, Tandem cylinders, and Turbulent flow over a hill) to asses the accuracy and computational cost of developed alternatives. Simulations of canonical motion (falling beam), fluid-structure-interaction cases (Hinged wing and Flexible pendulum), and realistic horizontal axis wind turbine geometries (Vestas v27, NREL 5MW, and MEXICO) are validated against benchmarks and experiments. Results from simulations of the three turbine array at the Scaled Wind Farm Test facility are presented for two steady wind conditions