Parallel finite element simulation of mooring forces on floating objects

The coupling between the equations governing the free‐surface flows, the six degrees of freedom non‐linear rigid body dynamics, the linear elasticity equations for mesh‐moving and the cables has resulted in a fluid‐structure interaction technology capable of simulating mooring forces on floating objects. The finite element solution strategy is based on a combination approach derived from fixed‐mesh and moving‐mesh techniques. Here, the free‐surface flow simulations are based on the Navier–Stokes equations written for two incompressible fluids where the impact of one fluid on the other one is extremely small. An interface function with two distinct values is used to locate the position of the free‐surface. The stabilized finite element formulations are written and integrated in an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian domain. This allows us to handle the motion of the time dependent geometries. Forces and momentums exerted on the floating object by both water and hawsers are calculated and used to update the position of the floating object in time. In the mesh moving scheme, we assume that the computational domain is made of elastic materials. The linear elasticity equations are solved to obtain the displacements for each computational node. The non‐linear rigid body dynamics equations are coupled with the governing equations of fluid flow and are solved simultaneously to update the position of the floating object. The numerical examples includes a 3D simulation of water waves impacting on a moored floating box and a model boat and simulation of floating object under water constrained with a cable. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The implementation of an aeronautical CFD flow code onto distributed memory parallel systems

The parallelization of an industrially important in‐house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for calculating the airflow over complex aircraft configurations using the Euler or Navier–Stokes equations is presented. The code discussed is the flow solver module of the SAUNA CFD suite. This suite uses a novel grid system that may include block‐structured hexahedral or pyramidal grids, unstructured tetrahedral grids or a hybrid combination of both. To assist in the rapid convergence to a solution, a number of convergence acceleration techniques are employed including implicit residual smoothing and a multigrid full approximation storage scheme (FAS). Key features of the parallelization approach are the use of domain decomposition and encapsulated message passing to enable the execution in parallel using a single programme multiple data (SPMD) paradigm. In the case where a hybrid grid is used, a unified grid partitioning scheme is employed to define the decomposition of the mesh. The parallel code has been tested using both structured and hybrid grids on a number of different distributed memory parallel systems and is now routinely used to perform industrial scale aeronautical simulations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comments on paratrooper‐separation modeling with the DSD/SST formulation and FOIST

We provide a brief chronological background on the deforming‐spatial‐domain/stabilized space–time (DSD/SST) formulation, its use in aerodynamic modeling of a paratrooper separating from an aircraft, and the fluid–object interactions subcomputation technique (FOIST). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical prediction of droplet dynamics in turbulent flow,using the level set method

In the present article, the droplet dynamics in turbulent flow is numerically predicted. The modelling is based on an interfacial marker-level set (IMLS) method, coupled with the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations to predict the dynamics of turbulent two-phase flow. The governing equations for time-dependent, two-dimensional and incompressible two-phase flow are described in both phases and solved separately using a control volume approach on structured cell-centred collocated grids. The topological changes of the interface are predicted by applying the level set approach. The kinematic and dynamic conditions on the interface separating the two phases are satisfied. The numerical method proposed is validated against a well-known computational fluid dynamics problem. Further, the deformation and breakup of a single droplet either suddenly moved in air or exposed to turbulent stream are numerically investigated. In general, the developed numerical method demonstrates remarkable capability in predicting the characteristics of complex turbulent two-phase flows.     

基于POD和代理模型的静气动弹性分析方法

静气动弹性问题考虑弹性结构与定常气动力间的相互耦合作用,对飞行器的性能和安全具有显著的影响.在现代飞行器设计阶段,计算流体力学(CFD)/计算结构力学(CSD)直接耦合方法是精确考察静气动弹性影响的重要手段.然而,基于CFD技术的气动力仿真手段在耦合过程中计算量大且耗时长,难以满足设计阶段的需求.因此,为了兼顾计算精度与效率,文章采用本征正交分解(POD)和Kriging代理模型相结合的模型降阶方法,替代CFD求解过程并耦合有限元分析(FEA)方法,建立了高效、准确的静气动弹性分析框架.相较于传统的以模态法为主的静气动弹性分析方法,该方法能够解决更为复杂的静气动弹性问题以及提供静气动弹性变形过程中的气动分布载荷.针对典型三维跨声速HIRENASD机翼模型开展的马赫数、迎角变化的算例验证表明:由建立的静气动弹性分析方法与CFD/CSD直接耦合方法计算得到机翼翼梢处的静变形量间的相对误差在5%以内;同时该方法预测静平衡位置处的气动分布载荷的误差在5%以内,静气动弹性分析的计算效率至少提升了6倍.     

Aircraft T-tail flutter predictions using computational fluid dynamics

The paper presents the application of computational aeroelasticity (CA) methods to the analysis of a T-tail stability in transonic regime. For this flow condition unsteady aerodynamics show a significant dependency from the aircraft equilibrium flight configuration, which rules both the position of shock waves in the flow field and the load distribution on the horizontal tail plane. Both these elements have an influence on the aerodynamic forces, and so on the aeroelastic stability of the system. The numerical procedure proposed allows to investigate flutter stability for a free-flying aircraft, iterating until convergence the following sequence of sub-problems: search for the trimmed condition for the deformable aircraft; linearize the system about the stated equilibrium point; predict the aeroelastic stability boundaries using the inferred linear model. An innovative approach based on sliding meshes allows to represent the changes of the computational fluid domain due to the motion of control surfaces used to trim the aircraft. To highlight the importance of keeping the linear model always aligned to the trim condition, and at the same time the capabilities of the computational fluid dynamics approach, the method is applied to a real aircraft with a T-tail configuration: the P180.     

A nonlinear analysis framework for bluff-body aerodynamics: A Volterra representation of the solution of Navier-Stokes equations

A nonlinear analysis framework for bluff-body aerodynamics based on Volterra theory is introduced to capture the linear and nonlinear aerodynamic effects. The Volterra kernels based on the impulse function concept are identified by way of the simulation of Navier-Stokes equations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The computational schemes used here are validated through theoretical consideration, i.e., Blasius solution for the steady-state and Theodorsen solution for the system dynamic-state simulation. The source of nonlinearities in the aerodynamics of bluff bodies is systematically investigated. The simulation of bluff-body aerodynamics based on the Volterra reduced-order modeling scheme is obtained by the convolution of the identified kernels with the external inputs, e.g., turbulent inflow or body motion for aerodynamic or aeroelastic response, respectively. It is demonstrated that the Volterra theory-based nonlinear analysis framework for bluff-body aerodynamics combined with the identification of kernels using CFD promises to capture the salient features of bluff-body aerodynamics and offers an accurate reduced-order approximation of the Navier-Stokes equations with reduced level of computational effort.     

Sliding mesh algorithm for CFD analysis of helicopter rotor–fuselage aerodynamics

The study of rotor–fuselage interactional aerodynamics is central to the design and performance analysis of helicopters. However, regardless of its significance, rotor–fuselage aerodynamics has so far been addressed by very few authors. This is mainly due to the difficulties associated with both experimental and computational techniques when such complex configurations, rich in flow physics, are considered. In view of the above, the objective of this study is to develop computational tools suitable for rotor–fuselage engineering analysis based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To account for the relative motion between the fuselage and the rotor blades, the concept of sliding meshes is introduced. A sliding surface forms a boundary between a CFD mesh around the fuselage and a rotor‐fixed CFD mesh which rotates to account for the movement of the rotor. The sliding surface allows communication between meshes. Meshes adjacent to the sliding surface do not necessarily have matching nodes or even the same number of cell faces. This poses a problem of interpolation, which should not introduce numerical artefacts in the solution and should have minimal effects on the overall solution quality. As an additional objective, the employed sliding mesh algorithms should have small CPU overhead. The sliding mesh methods developed for this work are demonstrated for both simple and complex cases with emphasis placed on the presentation of the inner workings of the developed algorithms. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

一类面向高阶精度自适应流动计算的流场插值方法

网格自适应技术和高阶精度数值方法是提升计算流体力学复杂问题适应能力的有效技术途径. 将这两项技术结合需要解决一系列技术难题, 其中之一是高阶精度流场插值. 针对高阶精度自适应流动计算, 提出一类高精度流场插值方法, 实现将前一迭代步网格中流场数值解插值到当前迭代步网格中, 以延续前一迭代步中的计算状态. 为实现流场插值过程中物理量守恒, 该方法先计算新旧网格的重叠区域, 然后将物理量从重叠区域的旧网格中转移到新网格中. 为满足高阶精度要求, 先采用k-exact最小二乘方法对旧网格上的数值解进行重构, 获得描述物理量分布的高阶多项式, 随后采用高阶精度高斯数值积分实现物理量精确地转移到新网格单元上. 最后, 通过一个具有精确解的数值算例和一个高阶精度自适应流动计算算例验证了本文算法的有效性. 第一个算例结果表明当网格规模固定不变时, 插值精度阶数越高, 插值误差越小; 第二个算例显示本文方法可以有效缩短高精度自适应流动计算的迭代收敛时间.      

Extracting micro air vehicles aerodynamic forces and coefficients in free flight using visual motion tracking techniques

This paper describes a methodology to extract aerial vehicles’ aerodynamic characteristics from visually tracked trajectory data. The technique is being developed to study the aerodynamics of centimeter-scale aircraft and develop flight simulation models. Centimeter-scale aircraft remains a largely unstudied domain of aerodynamics, for which traditional techniques like wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics have not yet been fully adapted and validated. The methodology takes advantage of recent progress in commercial, vision-based, motion-tracking systems. This system dispenses from on-board navigation sensors and enables indoor flight testing under controlled atmospheric conditions. Given the configuration of retro-reflective markers affixed onto the aerial vehicle, the vehicle’s six degrees-of-freedom motion can be determined in real time. Under disturbance-free conditions, the aerodynamic forces and moments can be determined from the vehicle’s inertial acceleration, and furthermore, for a fixed-wing vehicle, the aerodynamic angles can be plotted from the vehicle’s kinematics. By combining this information, we can determine the temporal evolution of the aerodynamic coefficients, as they change throughout a trajectory. An attractive feature of this technique is that trajectories are not limited to equilibrium conditions but can include non-equilibrium, maneuvering flight. Whereas in traditional wind-tunnel experiments, the operating conditions are set by the experimenter, here, the aerodynamic conditions are driven by the vehicle’s own dynamics. As a result, this methodology could be useful for characterizing the unsteady aerodynamics effects and their coupling with the aircraft flight dynamics, providing insight into aerodynamic phenomena taking place at centimeter scale flight.     

非结构网格变形方法研究进展

动网格技术中的非结构网格变形是计算流体力学和计算固体力学的关键技术之一.本文在总结现有非结构网格变形方法的基础上, 提出了一种网格变形方法的详细分类, 将现有方法归类为虚拟结构法、偏微分方程法和代数法. 本文综述了各类方法的最新研究进展, 分析并比较了各类方法的特性, 评述了当前网格变形研究的几个主要方向:复杂结构外形在不规则变形下的动网格生成、三维动网格生成、并行动网格生成和动节点技术. 最后简要地探讨了该领域的发展趋势.      

A compressible two‐fluid multiphase model for CO2 leakage through a wellbore

This paper introduces an effectively mesh‐independent and computationally efficient model for CO₂ leakage through wellbores. A one‐dimensional compressible two‐fluid domain, representing a homogeneous air gas and a multiphase CO₂ with a jump at the interface between them, is modeled. The physical domain is modeled using the drift‐flux model, and the governing equations are solved using a mixed finite‐element discretization scheme. The standard Galerkin FEM, the partition of unity method, and the level‐set method are integrated to solve the problem. All important physical phenomena and processes occurring along the wellbore path, including fluid dynamics, buoyancy, phase change, compressibility, thermal interaction, wall friction, and slip between phases, together with the jump in density and enthalpy between air and CO₂, are considered. Two numerical examples illustrating the computational capability and efficiency of the model are presented. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automatic generation of unstructured grids with Delaunay triangulation and its application

This paper is consisted of two parts. In the first part, a method is described which generates two-dimensional triangle mesh using the Delaunay triangulation criterion. An automatic algorithm was proposed which combines several advantages of the existing methods. Local mesh refinement can also be easily performed with this method. Examples of generated grids were presented for several convex, non-convex and multi-connected domains to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method. In the second part, the turbulent heat transfer in an annular space finned by wave-like longitudinal fins was numerical simulated. The proposed technique was adopted to generate the grid in the cross-section. The standard K-ɛ model in conjuction with wall function method was used to simulate the fluid flow and heat transfer in the complex geometry. The discretization of the governing equations was described. The computational results were compared with the authors' test data and the agreement was reasonably good. Received on 9 July 1998     

A structured but non‐uniform Cartesian grid‐based model for the shallow water equations

In large‐scale shallow flow simulations, local high‐resolution predictions are often required in order to reduce the computational cost without losing the accuracy of the solution. This is normally achieved by solving the governing equations on grids refined only to those areas of interest. Grids with varying resolution can be generated by different approaches, e.g. nesting methods, patching algorithms and adaptive unstructured or quadtree gridding techniques. This work presents a new structured but non‐uniform Cartesian grid system as an alternative to the existing approaches to provide local high‐resolution mesh. On generating a structured but non‐uniform Cartesian grid, the whole computational domain is first discretized using a coarse background grid. Local refinement is then achieved by directly allocating a specific subdivision level to each background grid cell. The neighbour information is specified by simple mathematical relationships and no explicit storage is needed. Hence, the structured property of the uniform grid is maintained. After employing some simple interpolation formulae, the governing shallow water equations are solved using a second‐order finite volume Godunov‐type scheme in a similar way as that on a uniform grid. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

汽车外流场数值仿真中的湍流模型分析与应用

采用较为合理的计算流体力学分析技术对汽车高速行驶时其外部气动特 性进行研究. 以带有轮胎、侧后视镜以及天线等突出部件的某轿车外流场模型为研究对象, 在稳态下采用RNS法中Realizable $k$-$\varepsilon$两方程湍流模型结合增强壁 面函数法对不同车速工况下整车外流场进行数值仿真计算. 研究表明：沿车辆X纵 向上所形成压力差是产生气动阻力的主要原因; 随车速的提高, 气动阻力 的增长速度快于气动升力的增长.     

非结构混合网格在气动热标模模拟中的应用

非结构混合网格消除了结构网格节点的结构性限制,可以较好地处理边界,同时兼顾了粘性边界层模拟的需求,具有灵活性大、对复杂外形适应能力强和生成耗时短等优点,在飞行器气动特性模拟中得到广泛应用.本文针对非结构混合网格的特点,把前期针对非结构混合网格气动力高精度模拟发展改进的梯度计算方法和Roe格式熵修正方法推广应用到气动热流的数值模拟.以典型钝锥标模外形的高超声速绕流为研究对象,开展了不同网格形式和第一层网格不同间距的影响研究.结果 表明,热流计算时,头部物面网格最好采用四边形或四边形交叉剖分得到的三角形网格,物面法向的网格雷诺数取20左右,为热流计算时非结构混合网格的生成提供了指导,同时验证了计算方法的有效性和可靠性.     

基于RBF插值技术的CFD/CSD非线性耦合分析方法研究

基于非结构混合网格的N-S方程求解器和结构柔度影响系数法,发展了一种考虑气动、结构非线性的基于RBF插值技术CFD/CSD耦合分析方法,适用于解决现代大展弦比飞机的非线性静气动弹性问题。该方法采用时间相关法（即求解非定常方程组,用长时间的渐近解趋于定常状态）求解静气弹分析时的定常流动。考虑大展弦比飞机结构变形问题为大变形小应力问题,在利用柔度系数法求解结构方程时,假设每次求解结构方程时应力与应变为线性关系,整体静气弹分析过程为非线性关系,因此每次求解结构方程时要更新柔度影响系数矩阵。在非定常N-S方程每求解一个时间步耦合一次结构有限元分析,由于结构有限元分析的时间相对于气动分析时间是很短的,所以这种方法实际上近似使用了一次求解非定常气动力的时间完成了整个静气动弹性分析的过程。对于气动网格与结构有限元网格不一致性,本文采用径向基函数（RBF）插值方法中的TPS方法进行结构弹性变形和气动载荷插值,采用虚功原理完成气动载荷数据交换。为了节省气弹分析时间,采用动网格方法对气动网格进行更新,本文基于RBF插值方法发展一种适用于混合网格（四面体、三棱柱、金字塔和六面体）变形的动网格方法,可以保证附面层网格的质量与分布从而准确模拟其流动。利用该方法对M6机翼、DLR-F6翼身组合体和某大型客机机翼进行了静气动弹性特性分析,结果验证了本文开发的非线性CFD/CSD耦合分析方法的可行性、精确性和高效性。     

Pacing CFD: automatic mesh adaptation as an efficient tool to improve CFD accuracy

We propose in this paper to demonstrate the impact of mesh adaptation technology on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution accuracy. A global methodology is presented that includes a selected number of pre-processing techniques that sensibly improve the quality of the initial meshes and accelerate the solution-adaptation process. Finally, the efficiency of the approach is demonstrated through meaningful numerical tests.     

Optimum Aerodynamic Design Using the Navier–Stokes Equations

This paper describes the formulation of optimization techniques based on control theory for aerodynamic shape design in viscous compressible flow, modeled by the Navier–Stokes equations. It extends previous work on optimization for inviscid flow. The theory is applied to a system defined by the partial differential equations of the flow, with the boundary shape acting as the control. The Fréchet derivative of the cost function is determined via the solution of an adjoint partial differential equation, and the boundary shape is then modified in a direction of descent. This process is repeated until an optimum solution is approached. Each design cycle requires the numerical solution of both the flow and the adjoint equations, leading to a computational cost roughly equal to the cost of two flow solutions. The cost is kept low by using multigrid techniques, in conjunction with preconditioning to accelerate the convergence of the solutions. The power of the method is illustrated by designs of wings and wing–body combinations for long range transport aircraft. Satisfactory designs are usually obtained with 20–40 design cycles. Received 5 February 1997 and accepted 30 May 1997