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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

3D Structured Grid Generation Codes for Turbomachinery

This report describes the research tasks during the past year. The research was mainly in the area of computational grid generation in support of CFD analyses of turbomachinery components. In addition to the grid generation work, a numerical simulation was obtained for the flow through a centrifugal gas compressor using an unstructured Navier-Stokes solver. Other tasks involved many different turbomachinery component analyses. These analyses were performed for NASA projects or for industrial applications. The work includes both centrifugal and axial machines, single and multiple blade rows, and steady and unsteady analyses. Over the past five years, a set of structured grid generation codes were developed that allow grids to be obtained fairly quickly for the large majority of configurations we encounter. These codes do not comprise a generalized grid generation package; they are noninteractive codes specifically designed for turbomachinery blade row geometries. But because of this limited scope, the codes are small, fast, and portable, and they can be run in the batch mode on small workstations. During the past year, these programs were used to generate computational grids were modified for a wide variety of configurations. In particular, the codes or wrote supplementary codes to improve our grid generation capabilities for multiple blade row configurations. This involves generating separate grids for each blade row, and then making them match and overlap by a few grid points at their common interface so that fluid properties are communicated across the interface. Unsteady rotor/stator analyses were performed for an axial turbine, a centrifugal compressor, and a centrifugal pump. Steady-state single-blade-row analyses were made for a study of blade sweep in transonic compressors. There was also cooperation on the application of an unstructured Navier-Stokes solver for turbomachinery flow simulations. In particular, the unstructured solver was used to analyze the flow through a centriftio compressor impeller.

Loellbach, James↗
NASA NTRS1993

Development of iterative techniques for the solution of unsteady compressible viscous flows

During the past two decades, there has been significant progress in the field of numerical simulation of unsteady compressible viscous flows. At present, a variety of solution techniques exist such as the transonic small disturbance analyses (TSD), transonic full potential equation-based methods, unsteady Euler solvers, and unsteady Navier-Stokes solvers. These advances have been made possible by developments in three areas: (1) improved numerical algorithms; (2) automation of body-fitted grid generation schemes; and (3) advanced computer architectures with vector processing and massively parallel processing features. In this work, the GMRES scheme has been considered as a candidate for acceleration of a Newton iteration time marching scheme for unsteady 2-D and 3-D compressible viscous flow calculation; from preliminary calculations, this will provide up to a 65 percent reduction in the computer time requirements over the existing class of explicit and implicit time marching schemes. The proposed method has ben tested on structured grids, but is flexible enough for extension to unstructured grids. The described scheme has been tested only on the current generation of vector processor architecture of the Cray Y/MP class, but should be suitable for adaptation to massively parallel machines.

Hixon, Duane↗
NASA NTRS1995

Some Developments of the Equilibrium Particle Simulation Method for the Direct Simulation of Compressible Flows

The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is the established technique for the simulation of rarefied gas flows. In some flows of engineering interest, such as occur for aero-braking spacecraft in the upper atmosphere, DSMC can become prohibitively expensive in CPU time because some regions of the flow, particularly on the windward side of blunt bodies, become collision dominated. As an alternative to using a hybrid DSMC and continuum gas solver (Euler or Navier-Stokes solver) this work is aimed at making the particle simulation method efficient in the high density regions of the flow. A high density, infinite collision rate limit of DSMC, the Equilibrium Particle Simulation method (EPSM) was proposed some 15 years ago. EPSM is developed here for the flow of a gas consisting of many different species of molecules and is shown to be computationally efficient (compared to DSMC) for high collision rate flows. It thus offers great potential as part of a hybrid DSMC/EPSM code which could handle flows in the transition regime between rarefied gas flows and fully continuum flows. As a first step towards this goal a pure EPSM code is described. The next step of combining DSMC and EPSM is not attempted here but should be straightforward. EPSM and DSMC are applied to Taylor-Couette flow with Kn = 0.02 and 0.0133 and S(omega) = 3). Toroidal vortices develop for both methods but some differences are found, as might be expected for the given flow conditions. EPSM appears to be less sensitive to the sequence of random numbers used in the simulation than is DSMC and may also be more dissipative. The question of the origin and the magnitude of the dissipation in EPSM is addressed. It is suggested that this analysis is also relevant to DSMC when the usual accuracy requirements on the cell size and decoupling time step are relaxed in the interests of computational efficiency.

Macrossan, M. N.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Overset Techniques for Hypersonic Multibody Configurations with the DPLR Solver

Three unit problems in shock-shock/shock-boundary layer interactions are considered in the evaluation overset techniques with the Data Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) computational fluid dynamics solver, a three dimensional Navier-Stokes solver . The unit problems considered are those of two stacked hemispherical cylinders (of different diameters and lengths, and at various orientations relative to each other or relative to the nozzle axis) tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel. These problems are taken as representative of a Two-Stage-To-Orbit design. The objective of the present presentation would be to discuss the techniques used to develop suitable overset grid systems and then evaluate their respective solutions by comparing to corresponding point matched grid solutions and experimental data. Both successful and unsuccessful techniques would be discussed. All solutions would be calculated using the DPLR solver and SUGGAR will be used to develop the domain connectivity information.

Hyatt, Andrew James↗
NASA NTRS1990

Application of a patched-grid algorithm to the F/A-18 forebody-leading-edge extension configuration

A patched-grid algorithm for the analysis of complex configurations with an implicit, upwind-biased Navier-Stokes solver is presented. Results from both a spatial-flux and a time-flux conservation approach to patching across zonal boundaries are presented. A generalized coordinate transformation with a biquadratic geometric element is used at the zonal interface in order to treat highly stretched viscous grids and arbitrarily shaped zonal boundaries. Applications are made to the F/A-18 forebody-Ieading-edge extension configuration at subsonic, high-alpha conditions. Computed surface flow patterns compare well with ground-based and flight-test results; the large effect of Reynolds number on the forebody flowfield is shown.

Leading edge extension↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Multi-Level Parallelization Concept for High-Fidelity Multi-Block Solvers

The integration of high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis tools with the industrial design process benefits greatly from the robust implementations that are transportable across a wide range of computer architectures. In the present work, a hybrid domain-decomposition and parallelization concept was developed and implemented into the widely-used NASA multi-block Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) packages implemented in ENSAERO and OVERFLOW. The new parallel solver concept, PENS (Parallel Euler Navier-Stokes Solver), employs both fine and coarse granularity in data partitioning as well as data coalescing to obtain the desired load-balance characteristics on the available computer platforms. This multi-level parallelism implementation itself introduces no changes to the numerical results, hence the original fidelity of the packages are identically preserved. The present implementation uses the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library for interprocessor message passing and memory accessing. By choosing an appropriate combination of the available partitioning and coalescing capabilities only during the execution stage, the PENS solver becomes adaptable to different computer architectures from shared-memory to distributed-memory platforms with varying degrees of parallelism. The PENS implementation on the IBM SP2 distributed memory environment at the NASA Ames Research Center obtains 85 percent scalable parallel performance using fine-grain partitioning of single-block CFD domains using up to 128 wide computational nodes. Multi-block CFD simulations of complete aircraft simulations achieve 75 percent perfect load-balanced executions using data coalescing and the two levels of parallelism. SGI PowerChallenge, SGI Origin 2000, and a cluster of workstations are the other platforms where the robustness of the implementation is tested. The performance behavior on the other computer platforms with a variety of realistic problems will be included as this on-going study progresses.

Hatay, Ferhat F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A Patched-Grid Algorithm for Complex Configurations Directed Towards the F/A-18 Aircraft

A patched-grid algorithm for the analysis of complex configurations with an implicit, upwind-biased Navier-Stokes solver is presented. Results from both a spatial-flux and a time-flux conservation approach to patching across zonal boundaries are presented. A generalized coordinate transformation with a biquadratic geometric element is used at the zonal interface in order to treat highly stretched viscous grids and arbitrarily-shaped zonal boundaries. Applications are made to the F-18 forebody-strake configuration at subsonic, high-alpha conditions. Computed surface flow patterns compare well with ground-based and flight-test results; the large effect of Reynolds number on the forebody flow-field is shown.

High alpha research vehicle↗
NASA NTRS1995

Status Of The UPS Space-Marching Flow Solver

The status of the three-dimensional parabolized Navier-Stokes solver UPS is described. The UPS code, initiated at NASA Ames Research Center in 1986, continues to develop and evolve through application to supersonic and hypersonic flow fields. Hypersonic applications have motivated enhancement of the physical modeling capabilities of the code, specifically real gas modeling, boundary conditions, and turbulence and transition modeling. The UPS code has also been modified to enhance robustness and efficiency in order to be practically used in concert with an optimization code for supersonic transport design. These developments are briefly described along with some relevant results for generic test problems obtained during verification of the enhancements. Included developments and results have previously been published and widely disseminated domestically.

Lawerence, Scott L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Turbulance boundary conditions for shear flow analysis, using the DTNS flow solver

The effects of different turbulence boundary conditions were examined for two classical flows: a turbulent plane free shear layer and a flat plate turbulent boundary layer with zero pressure gradient. The flow solver used was DTNS, an incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes solver with k-epsilon turbulence modeling, developed at the U.S. Navy David Taylor Research Center. Six different combinations of turbulence boundary conditions at the inflow boundary were investigated: In case 1, 'exact' k and epsilon profiles were used; in case 2, the 'exact' k profile was used, and epsilon was extrapolated upstream; in case 3, both k and epsilon were extrapolated; in case 4, the turbulence intensity (I) was 1 percent, and the turbulent viscosity (mu(sub t)) was equal to the laminar viscosity; in case 5, the 'exact' k profile was used and mu(sub t) was equal to the laminar viscosity; in case 6, the I was 1 percent, and epsilon was extrapolated. Comparisons were made with experimental data, direct numerical simulation results, or theoretical predictions as applicable. Results obtained with DTNS showed that turbulence boundary conditions can have significant impacts on the solutions, especially for the free shear layer.

Mizukami, M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Two-species variable gamma formulation for a forward-firing rocket nozzle

The object of the paper is to develop an algorithm for an axisymmetric case to study the effects of variable gamma on the flowfield of a two-species mixture. This algorithm forms the basis for extension to three-dimensional SSME application where the Shuttle executes a return-to-launch-site maneuver. The PARC2DR code was used as the foundation for the Navier-Stokes solver, and the species continuity equation for the exhaust species was coupled in an explicit fashion to the Navier-Stokes equation via the variable gamma. The species continuity equation could not be solved with explicit boundary conditions; instead, implicit boundary conditions were implemented.

Saladino, Anthony J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A perspective on unstructured grid flow solvers

This survey paper assesses the status of compressible Euler and Navier-Stokes solvers on unstructured grids. Different spatial and temporal discretization options for steady and unsteady flows are discussed. The integration of these components into an overall framework to solve practical problems is addressed. Issues such as grid adaptation, higher order methods, hybrid discretizations and parallel computing are briefly discussed. Finally, some outstanding issues and future research directions are presented.

Venkatakrishnan, V.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Recent Enhancements To The FUN3D Flow Solver For Moving-Mesh Applications

An unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver for unstructured grids has been extended to handle general mesh movement involving rigid, deforming, and overset meshes. Mesh deformation is achieved through analogy to elastic media by solving the linear elasticity equations. A general method for specifying the motion of moving bodies within the mesh has been implemented that allows for inherited motion through parent-child relationships, enabling simulations involving multiple moving bodies. Several example calculations are shown to illustrate the range of potential applications. For problems in which an isolated body is rotating with a fixed rate, a noninertial reference-frame formulation is available. An example calculation for a tilt-wing rotor is used to demonstrate that the time-dependent moving grid and noninertial formulations produce the same results in the limit of zero time-step size.

Biedron, Robert T,↗
NASA NTRS1996

Comparative Study of Advanced Turbulence Models for Turbomachinery

A computational study has been undertaken to study the performance of advanced phenomenological turbulence models coded in a modular form to describe incompressible turbulent flow behavior in two dimensional/axisymmetric and three dimensional complex geometry. The models include a variety of two equation models (single and multi-scale k-epsilon models with different near wall treatments) and second moment algebraic and full Reynolds stress closure models. These models were systematically assessed to evaluate their performance in complex flows with rotation, curvature and separation. The models are coded as self contained modules that can be interfaced with a number of flow solvers. These modules are stand alone satellite programs that come with their own formulation, finite-volume discretization scheme, solver and boundary condition implementation. They will take as input (from any generic Navier-Stokes solver) the velocity field, grid (structured H-type grid) and computational domain specification (boundary conditions), and will deliver, depending on the model used, turbulent viscosity, or the components of the Reynolds stress tensor. There are separate 2D/axisymmetric and/or 3D decks for each module considered. The modules are tested using Rocketdyn's proprietary code REACT. The code utilizes an efficient solution procedure to solve Navier-Stokes equations in a non-orthogonal body-fitted coordinate system. The differential equations are discretized over a finite-volume grid using a non-staggered variable arrangement and an efficient solution procedure based on the SIMPLE algorithm for the velocity-pressure coupling is used. The modules developed have been interfaced and tested using finite-volume, pressure-correction CFD solvers which are widely used in the CFD community. Other solvers can also be used to test these modules since they are independently structured with their own discretization scheme and solver methodology. Many of these modules have been independently tested by Professor C.P. Chen and his group at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) by interfacing them with own flow solver (MAST).

Hadid, Ali H.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Solutions to Three-Dimensional Thin-Layer Navier-Stokes Equations in Rotating Coordinates for Flow Through Turbomachinery

The viscous, Navier-Stokes solver for turbomachinery applications, MSUTC has been modified to include the rotating frame formulation. The three-dimensional thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations have been cast in a rotating Cartesian frame enabling the freezing of grid motion. This also allows the flow-field associated with an isolated rotor to be viewed as a steady-state problem. Consequently, local time stepping can be used to accelerate convergence. The formulation is validated by running NASA's Rotor 67 as the test case. results are compared between the rotating frame code and the absolute frame code. The use of the rotating frame approach greatly enhances the performance of the code with respect to savings in computing time, without degradation of the solution.

Ghosh, Amrit Raj↗
NASA NTRS2017

Sensitivity Analysis of Multidisciplinary Rotorcraft Simulations

A multidisciplinary sensitivity analysis of rotorcraft simulations involving tightly coupled high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics and comprehensive analysis solvers is presented and evaluated. An unstructured sensitivity-enabled Navier-Stokes solver, FUN3D, and a nonlinear flexible multibody dynamics solver, DYMORE, are coupled to predict the aerodynamic loads and structural responses of helicopter rotor blades. A discretely-consistent adjoint-based sensitivity analysis available in FUN3D provides sensitivities arising from unsteady turbulent flows and unstructured dynamic overset meshes, while a complex-variable approach is used to compute DYMORE structural sensitivities with respect to aerodynamic loads. The multidisciplinary sensitivity analysis is conducted through integrating the sensitivity components from each discipline of the coupled system. Numerical results verify accuracy of the FUN3D/DYMORE system by conducting simulations for a benchmark rotorcraft test model and comparing solutions with established analyses and experimental data. Complex-variable implementation of sensitivity analysis of DYMORE and the coupled FUN3D/DYMORE system is verified by comparing with real-valued analysis and sensitivities. Correctness of adjoint formulations for FUN3D/DYMORE interfaces is verified by comparing adjoint-based and complex-variable sensitivities. Finally, sensitivities of the lift and drag functions obtained by complex-variable FUN3D/DYMORE simulations are compared with sensitivities computed by the multidisciplinary sensitivity analysis, which couples adjoint-based flow and grid sensitivities of FUN3D and FUN3D/DYMORE interfaces with complex-variable sensitivities of DYMORE structural responses.

Wang, Li↗
NASA NTRS1996

Two-Dimensional Computational Model for Wave Rotor Flow Dynamics

A two-dimensional (theta,z) Navier-Stokes solver for multi-port wave rotor flow simulation is described. The finite-volume form of the unsteady thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations are integrated in time on multi-block grids that represent the stationary inlet and outlet ports and the moving rotor passages of the wave rotor. Computed results are compared with three-port wave rotor experimental data. The model is applied to predict the performance of a planned four-port wave rotor experiment. Two-dimensional flow features that reduce machine performance and influence rotor blade and duct wall thermal loads are identified. The performance impact of rounding the inlet port wall, to inhibit separation during passage gradual opening, is assessed.

Welch, Gerard E.↗