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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1981

A multigrid method for the transonic full potential equation discretized with finite elements on an arbitrary body fitted mesh

A multigrid method for the acceleration of transonic potential flow calculations based on a Galerkin finite element approach is described. In order to allow the use of arbitrary body fitted meshes it is necessary to introduce nonuniform interpolation and residual weighting. Emphasis is put on the construction of these operators consistent with the finite element approximation, while standard successive line overrelaxation is used as a smoothing step. Substantial convergence acceleration is obtained and results are presented for different transonic flow configurations including shocks.

Deconinck, H.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Applications of the contravariant form of the Navier-Stokes equations

The contravariant Navier-Stokes equations in weak conservation form are well suited to certain fluid flow analysis problems. Three dimensional contravariant momentum equations may be used to obtain Navier-Stokes equations in weak conservation form on a nonplanar two dimensional surface with varying streamsheet thickness. Thus a three dimensional flow can be simulated with two dimensional equations to obtain a quasi-three dimensional solution for viscous flow. When the Navier-Stokes equations on the two dimensional nonplanar surface are transformed to a generalized body fitted mesh coordinate system, the resulting equations are similar to the equations for a body fitted mesh coordinate system on the Euclidean plane. Contravariant momentum components are also useful for analyzing compressible, three dimensional viscous flow through an internal duct by parabolic marching. This type of flow is efficiently analyzed by parabolic marching methods, where the streamwise momentum equation is uncoupled from the two crossflow momentum equations. This can be done, even for ducts with a large amount of turning, if the Navier-Stokes equations are written with contravariant components.

Katsanis, T.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Inlet flowfield investigation. Part 2: Computation of the flow about a supercruise forebody at supersonic speeds

A numerical procedure which solves the parabolized Navier-Stokes (PNS) equations on a body fitted mesh was used to compute the flow about the forebody of an advanced tactical supercruise fighter configuration in an effort to explore the use of a PNS method for design of supersonic cruise forebody geometries. Forebody flow fields were computed at Mach numbers of 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5, and at angles-of-attack of 0 deg, 4 deg, and 8 deg. at each Mach number. Computed results are presented at several body stations and include contour plots of Mach number, total pressure, upwash angle, sidewash angle and cross-plane velocity. The computational analysis procedure was found reliable for evaluating forebody flow fields of advanced aircraft configurations for flight conditions where the vortex shed from the wing leading edge is not a dominant flow phenomenon. Static pressure distributions and boundary layer profiles on the forebody and wing were surveyed in a wind tunnel test, and the analytical results are compared to the data. The current status of the parabolized flow flow field code is described along with desirable improvements in the code.

Paynter, G. C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Aerodynamic shape optimization of wing and wing-body configurations using control theory

This paper describes the implementation of optimization techniques based on control theory for wing and wing-body design. In previous studies it was shown that control theory could be used to devise an effective optimization procedure for airfoils and wings in which the shape and the surrounding body-fitted mesh are both generated analytically, and the control is the mapping function. Recently, the method has been implemented for both potential flows and flows governed by the Euler equations using an alternative formulation which employs numerically generated grids, so that it can more easily be extended to treat general configurations. Here results are presented both for the optimization of a swept wing using an analytic mapping, and for the optimization of wing and wing-body configurations using a general mesh.

Reuther, James↗
NASA NTRS1992

Efficient computation of inviscid flow fields around complex configurations using a multiblock multigrid method

The applicability of a multigrid technique to block-structured, body-fitted meshes is examined focusing on three different strategies. In the first strategy data are exchanged between blocks in each stage of a five-stage Runge-Kutta time-stepping scheme which keeps a possible time lag between blocks to a minimum, but requires a large amount of I/O operations and storage. The second strategy is based on performing a complete Runge-Kutta cycle within a block before switching to the next. In the third strategy both a complete Runge-Kutta cycle and the residual evaluation for the restriction operator are done within a block, allowing a minimum of I/O and storage. The inviscid flow around a wing-body/engine-pylon configuration was computed on a mesh consisting of 11 computational blocks. It was found that both the first and the second strategies delivered converged results, but the third failed due to larger time lag between blocks.

Rossow, C.-C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Applications of Space-Filling-Curves to Cartesian Methods for CFD

The proposed paper presents a variety novel uses of Space-Filling-Curves (SFCs) for Cartesian mesh methods in 0. While these techniques will be demonstrated using non-body-fitted Cartesian meshes, most are applicable on general body-fitted meshes -both structured and unstructured. We demonstrate the use of single O(N log N) SFC-based reordering to produce single-pass (O(N)) algorithms for mesh partitioning, multigrid coarsening, and inter-mesh interpolation. The intermesh interpolation operator has many practical applications including warm starts on modified geometry, or as an inter-grid transfer operator on remeshed regions in moving-body simulations. Exploiting the compact construction of these operators, we further show that these algorithms are highly amenable to parallelization. Examples using the SFC-based mesh partitioner show nearly linear speedup to 512 CPUs even when using multigrid as a smoother. Partition statistics are presented showing that the SFC partitions are, on-average, within 10% of ideal even with only around 50,000 cells in each subdomain. The inter-mesh interpolation operator also has linear asymptotic complexity and can be used to map a solution with N unknowns to another mesh with M unknowns with O(max(M,N)) operations. This capability is demonstrated both on moving-body simulations and in mapping solutions to perturbed meshes for finite-difference-based gradient design methods.

Aftosmis, Michael J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

TEAMER - Extreme Events Modeling for the MARMOK-OWC Wave Energy Converter

Through the TEAMER program, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) collaborated with IDOM Incorporated to study their MARMOK-Oscillating Water Column (MARMOK-OWC) wave energy conversion device. The study yielded a quantitative understanding of hydrodynamic pressures on the oscillating water column (OWC) device surfaces, the mooring tensions, and the dynamic performance of the device under extreme ocean wave conditions. This project utilized a comprehensive multi-phase Navier-Stokes flow solver with an overset body-fit mesh to predict fluid velocities and hydrodynamic forces on the MARMOK-OWC device. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis were conducted using OpenFOAM. This data includes the OpenFOAM cases (setup and data) to run the extreme events developed during the project. This project is part of the TEAMER RFTS 4 (request for technical support) program.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
NASA NTRS1995

Supersonic wing and wing-body shape optimization using an adjoint formulation

This paper describes the implementation of optimization techniques based on control theory for wing and wing-body design of supersonic configurations. The work represents an extension of our earlier research in which control theory is used to devise a design procedure that significantly reduces the computational cost by employing an adjoint equation. In previous studies it was shown that control theory could be used to~eviseransonic design methods for airfoils and wings in which the shape and the surrounding body-fitted mesh are both generated analytically, and the control is the mapping function. The method has also been implemented for both transonic potential flows and transonic flows governed by the Euler equations using an alternative formulation which employs numerically generated grids, so that it can treat more general configurations. Here results are presented for three-dimensional design cases subject to supersonic flows governed by the Euler equation.

Reuther, James↗
NASA NTRS1996

Aerodynamic shape optimization using control theory

Aerodynamic shape design has long persisted as a difficult scientific challenge due its highly nonlinear flow physics and daunting geometric complexity. However, with the emergence of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) it has become possible to make accurate predictions of flows which are not dominated by viscous effects. It is thus worthwhile to explore the extension of CFD methods for flow analysis to the treatment of aerodynamic shape design. Two new aerodynamic shape design methods are developed which combine existing CFD technology, optimal control theory, and numerical optimization techniques. Flow analysis methods for the potential flow equation and the Euler equations form the basis of the two respective design methods. In each case, optimal control theory is used to derive the adjoint differential equations, the solution of which provides the necessary gradient information to a numerical optimization method much more efficiently then by conventional finite differencing. Each technique uses a quasi-Newton numerical optimization algorithm to drive an aerodynamic objective function toward a minimum. An analytic grid perturbation method is developed to modify body fitted meshes to accommodate shape changes during the design process. Both Hicks-Henne perturbation functions and B-spline control points are explored as suitable design variables. The new methods prove to be computationally efficient and robust, and can be used for practical airfoil design including geometric and aerodynamic constraints. Objective functions are chosen to allow both inverse design to a target pressure distribution and wave drag minimization. Several design cases are presented for each method illustrating its practicality and efficiency. These include non-lifting and lifting airfoils operating at both subsonic and transonic conditions.

Reuther, James↗
NASA NTRS2003

Applications of Space-Filling-Curves to Cartesian Methods for CFD

This paper presents a variety of novel uses of space-filling-curves (SFCs) for Cartesian mesh methods in CFD. While these techniques will be demonstrated using non-body-fitted Cartesian meshes, many are applicable on general body-fitted meshes-both structured and unstructured. We demonstrate the use of single theta(N log N) SFC-based reordering to produce single-pass (theta(N)) algorithms for mesh partitioning, multigrid coarsening, and inter-mesh interpolation. The intermesh interpolation operator has many practical applications including warm starts on modified geometry, or as an inter-grid transfer operator on remeshed regions in moving-body simulations Exploiting the compact construction of these operators, we further show that these algorithms are highly amenable to parallelization. Examples using the SFC-based mesh partitioner show nearly linear speedup to 640 CPUs even when using multigrid as a smoother. Partition statistics are presented showing that the SFC partitions are, on-average, within 15% of ideal even with only around 50,000 cells in each sub-domain. The inter-mesh interpolation operator also has linear asymptotic complexity and can be used to map a solution with N unknowns to another mesh with M unknowns with theta(M + N) operations. This capability is demonstrated both on moving-body simulations and in mapping solutions to perturbed meshes for control surface deflection or finite-difference-based gradient design methods.

Aftosmis, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Computations of Unsteady Viscous Compressible Flows Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Curvilinear Body-fitted Grid Systems

A methodology for accurate and efficient simulation of unsteady, compressible flows is presented. The cornerstones of the methodology are a special discretization of the Navier-Stokes equations on structured body-fitted grid systems and an efficient solution-adaptive mesh refinement technique for structured grids. The discretization employs an explicit multidimensional upwind scheme for the inviscid fluxes and an implicit treatment of the viscous terms. The mesh refinement technique is based on the AMR algorithm of Berger and Colella. In this approach, cells on each level of refinement are organized into a small number of topologically rectangular blocks, each containing several thousand cells. The small number of blocks leads to small overhead in managing data, while their size and regular topology means that a high degree of optimization can be achieved on computers with vector processors.

Steinthorsson, E.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A Computer Program for the Calculation of Three-Dimensional Transonic Nacelle/Inlet Flowfields

A highly efficient computer analysis was developed for predicting transonic nacelle/inlet flowfields. This algorithm can compute the three dimensional transonic flowfield about axisymmetric (or asymmetric) nacelle/inlet configurations at zero or nonzero incidence. The flowfield is determined by solving the full-potential equation in conservative form on a body-fitted curvilinear computational mesh. The difference equations are solved using the AF2 approximate factorization scheme. This report presents a discussion of the computational methods used to both generate the body-fitted curvilinear mesh and to obtain the inviscid flow solution. Computed results and correlations with existing methods and experiment are presented. Also presented are discussions on the organization of the grid generation (NGRIDA) computer program and the flow solution (NACELLE) computer program, descriptions of the respective subroutines, definitions of the required input parameters for both algorithms, a brief discussion on interpretation of the output, and sample cases to illustrate application of the analysis.

Vadyak, J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Aerodynamic interaction between vortical wakes and lifting two-dimensional bodies

Unsteady rotor wake interactions with the empennage, tail boom, and other aerodynamic surfaces of a helicopter have a significant influence on its aerodynamic performance, the ride quality, and vibration. A numerical method for computing the aerodynamic interaction between an interacting vortex wake and the viscous flow about arbitrary two-dimensional bodies was developed to address this helicopter problem. The method solves for the flow field velocities on a body-fitted computational mesh using finite-difference techniques. The interacting vortex wake is represented by an array of discrete vortices which, in turn, are represented by a finite-core model. The evolution of the interacting vortex wake is calculated by Lagrangian techniques. The viscous flow field of the two-dimensional body is calculated on an Eulerian grid. The flow around circular and elliptic cylinders in the absence of an interacting vortex wake was calculated. These results compare very well with other numerical results and with results obtained from experiment and thereby demonstrate the accuracy of the viscous solution. The interaction of a rotor wake with the flow about a 4 to 1 elliptic cylinder at 45 degree incidence was calculated for a Reynolds number of 3000. The results demonstrate the significant variations in the lift and drag on the elliptic cylinder in the presence of the interacting rotor wake.

Stremel, Paul M.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Level-set topology optimization with PDE generated conformal meshes

This paper presents a level-set topology optimization approach that uses conformal meshes for the analysis of the displacement field. The structure’s boundary is represented by the iso-contour of a level-set field discretized on a fixed background design mesh. The conformal mesh is updated for each design iteration via a PDE based mesh morphing process that identifies the set of facets in the background mesh that are homeomorphic to the boundary and relaxes the homeomorphic mesh to conform to the structure’s boundary and ensure high element quality. The conformal mesh allows for a more accurate computation of the response versus density and some level-set based methods which interpolate material properties using the volume fraction. Numerical examples illustrate the proposed approach by optimizing linear-elastic two- and three-dimensional structures, wherein insight into the performance of the mesh morphing process is provided. The examples also highlight the scalability of the approach.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1990

The calculation of rotor/fuselage interaction for two-dimensional bodies

Unsteady rotor wake interactions with the empennage, tail boom, and other aerodynamic surfaces have a significant influence on the aerodynamic performance of the helicopter, ride quality, and vibration. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) method for computing the aerodynamic interaction between an interacting vortex wake and the viscous flow about arbitrary 2-D bodies was developed to address this helicopter problem. The vorticity and flow field velocities are calculated on a body-fitted computational mesh using an uncoupled iterative solution. The interacting vortex wake is represented by an array of discrete vortices which, in turn, are represented by a finite core model. The evolution of the interacting vortex wake is calculated by Lagrangian techniques. The flow around circular and elliptic cylinders in the absence of an interacting vortex wake was calculated. These results compare very well with other numerical results and with results obtained from experiment and thereby demonstrate the accuracy of the viscous solution. The interaction of a simulated rotor wake with the flow about 2-D bodies, representing cross sections of fuselage components, was calculated to address the vortex interaction problem. The vortex interaction was calculated for the flow about a circular and an elliptic cylinder at 45 and 90 degrees incidence. The results demonstrate the significant variation in lift and drag on the 2-D bodies during the vortex interaction.

Stremel, Paul M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Full potential solution of transonic quasi-3-D flow through a cascade using artificial compressability

The three-dimensional flow in a turbomachinery blade row was approximated by correcting for streamtube convergence and radius change in the throughflow direction. The method is a fully conservative solution of the full potential equation incorporating the finite volume technique on body fitted periodic mesh, with an artificial density imposed in the transonic region to insure stability and the capture of shock waves. Comparison of results for several supercritical blades shows good agreement with their hodograph solutions. Other calculations for these profiles as well as standard NACA blade sections indicate that this is a useful scheme analyzing both the design and off-design performance of turbomachinery blading.

Farrell, C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Full potential solution of a transonic quasi-3-D flow through a cascade using artificial compressibility

A reliable method is presented for calculating the flowfield about a cascade of arbitrary 2-D airfoils. The method approximates the three-dimensional flow in a turbomachinery blade row by correcting for streamtube convergence and radius change in the throughflow direction. The method is a fully conservative solution of the full potential equation incorporating the finite volume technique on a body-fitted periodic mesh, with an artificial density imposed in the transonic region to ensure stability and the capture of shock waves. Comparison of results for several supercritical blades shows good agreement with their hodograph solutions. Other calculations for these profiles as well as standard NACA blade sections indicate that this is a useful scheme for analyzing both the design and off-design performance of turbomachinery blading.

Farrell, C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Computer program for calculating full potential transonic, quasi-three-dimensional flow through a rotating turbomachinery blade row

A fast, reliable computer code is described for calculating the flow field about a cascade of arbitrary two dimensional airfoils. The method approximates the three dimensional flow in a turbomachinery blade row by correcting for stream tube convergence and radius change in the throughflow direction. A fully conservative solution of the full potential equation is combined with the finite volume technique on a body-fitted periodic mesh, with an artificial density imposed in the transonic region to insure stability and the capture of shock waves. The instructions required to set up and use the code are included. The name of the code is QSONIC. A numerical example is also given to illustrate the output of the program.

Farrell, C. A.↗