Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Mesh Generation and Adaption for High Reynolds Number RANS Computations
Project Description
This proposal offers to provide NASA with an automatic mesh generator for the simulation of aerodynamic flows using Reynolds-Averages Navier-Stokes (RANS) models. The tools will be capable of generating high-quality, highly-stretched (anisotropic) grids in boundary layer regions and transition smoothly to inviscid flow regions even in an adaptive context. The objective of the work is to offer a unified view for generating quality and robust RANS meshes coupled naturally with anisotropic mesh adaptation. Our innovation is to view the anisotropic mesh generation within the Riemannian metric framework which thus far has been used exclusively in anisotropic mesh adaptation. Using the metric-based framework allows much easier handling of the large mesh size ratios involved in the computation, whereas traditional methods use the Euclidean framework to compute distance and volume. This innovative view to generate these meshes makes the entire procedure more generic and much more robust. The emphasis is being put on deriving a completely automatic process to generate quality and robust anisotropic meshes. Our existing and proven software package will be modified to include these innovative methods. A NASA test case will be computed for validation of the methods. The software will be delivered in Phase II.
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Anticipated Benefits
The software system resulting from this program can be applied to DoD programs involving predicting and understanding fluid dynamic environments, designing flight hardware, test planning and analyzing test data. Such an overall system can be applied to the design and development of missiles for defensive interceptor systems which involve blast dynamics, impact and fragmentation. This system can be applied in the analysis of foreign missile concepts and threats. Example commercial industries and applications are: Analysis of nuclear blast accidents from power plants: Automobile manufacturers for design of car and truck engines; Bio-Medical applications such as blood flow in elastic arteries, hearts, and air flow in lungs: Computer simulation of blast waves for use in anti-terrorists investigations: Housing design for protection from hurricanes, and tornados: Heating and air conditioning manufacturers for home units, large office complexes and automobile air conditioning systems: Solar collector systems for alternative energy development.
Next generation vehicles are being designed at NASA for space travel including launch configurations and modules for entry into planetary atmospheres at extreme velocities. Analysis and design of propulsion systems will be a major requirement for this new generation aerospace flight hardware. High fidelity CFD software is needed for design of these new systems across speed ranges from subsonic to supersonic to hypersonic. Our proposed program addresses this time-critical technology development item by providing a new meshing code to address high Reynolds number viscous flow fields. Existing unstructured tetrahedral-based mesh generators cannot provide the high aspect ratio meshed needed for solvers such as our FEFLO and NASA's FUN3D. The software to be provided here is a next generation computation capability for design and analysis of these new space vehicles. More »
Next generation vehicles are being designed at NASA for space travel including launch configurations and modules for entry into planetary atmospheres at extreme velocities. Analysis and design of propulsion systems will be a major requirement for this new generation aerospace flight hardware. High fidelity CFD software is needed for design of these new systems across speed ranges from subsonic to supersonic to hypersonic. Our proposed program addresses this time-critical technology development item by providing a new meshing code to address high Reynolds number viscous flow fields. Existing unstructured tetrahedral-based mesh generators cannot provide the high aspect ratio meshed needed for solvers such as our FEFLO and NASA's FUN3D. The software to be provided here is a next generation computation capability for design and analysis of these new space vehicles. More »
Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research South, Inc. | Lead Organization | Industry | Huntsville, Alabama |
| George Mason University | Supporting Organization | Academia | Fairfax, Virginia |
Langley Research Center
(LaRC)
|
Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Hampton, Virginia |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
-
Alabama
-
Virginia
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This is a historic project that was completed before the creation of TechPort on October 1, 2012. Available data has been included. This record may contain less data than currently active projects.