Numerical simulation using RANS-based tools for America's Cup design

The application of Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) equations to the design of sailing yachts is becoming more commonplace, particularly for the America's Cup. Drawing on the experience of the Ecole Polytechnique FÃ©dÃ©rale de Lausanne as Official Scientific Advisor to the Alinghi Challenge for the Americaâs Cup 2003, the role of RANS-based codes in the yacht design process is discussed. The strategy for simulating the hydrodynamic flow around the boat appendages is presented. Two different numerical methods for the simulation of wave generation on the water surface are compared. In addition, the aerodynamic flow around different sail configurations is investigated. The benefits to the design process as well as its limitations are discussed. Practical matters, such as manpower and computational requirements, are also considered.

Computational fluid dynamics for naval engineering problems

Nicola Parolini

The subject of this thesis is the numerical simulation of viscous free-surface flows in naval engineering applications. State-of-the-art numerical methods based on the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations are used to predict the flow around different classes of boats. We investigate the role of the Computational Fluid Dynamics in the design of racing boats, such as America's Cup yachts and Olympic class rowing hull. The mathematical models describing the different aspects of the physical problem, as well as the numerical methods adopted for their solution, are introduced and critically discussed. The different phases of the overall numerical simulation procedure, from grid generation through the solution of the flow equations to the post-processing of the results, are described. We present the numerical simulations that have been performed to investigate the role of different design parameters in the conception of America's Cup yachts and we describe how the results obtained from the simulations are integrated into the overall design process. The free-surface flow around an Olympic rowing boat is also considered. We propose a simplified approach to take into account the effect of the boat dynamics in the prediction of the hydrodynamic forces acting on the boat. Based on the results of the simulations, we propose a new design concept and we investigate its potential benefits on the boat performances. One of the aspects that is found to be not completely satisfactory, within the standard numerical methods adopted, is the modelling of complex free-surface flows. The second part of this thesis is devoted to a more theoretical and methodological investigation of this aspect. In particular, we present and analyse a new numerical method based on the level set approach for the solution of two-fluid flows. The numerical scheme based on a finite element discretization is introduced and different critical aspects of its implementation are discussed. In particular, we present and analyse a new technique for the stabilization of the advection equation associated to the level set problem. Moreover, we propose a new reinitialization procedure for the level set function which plays a crucial role in the accuracy of the algorithm. The convergence properties of this procedure are analysed and comparisons with more standard approaches are presented. Finally, the proposed method has been used to solve a variety of test cases concerning time dependent two-fluid viscous flows. The results of the simulation are presented and discussed.

EPFL2004

Simulation of benchmark and industrial unsteady compressible turbulent fluid flows

Michele Mossi

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is a very promising technique for the numerical computation of unsteady turbulent flows, and seems to be the perfect tool to simulate the compressible air flow around a high-speed train in a tunnel, providing unsteady results for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analysis. To look into this possible future application of LES, two major lines of investigation are pursued in this thesis: first, the study of the effective ability of shock-capturing schemes to predict fundamental turbulent phenomena; second, the analysis of the aerodynamic phenomena induced by a high-speed train in a tunnel. The numerical simulation of compressible flows requires the use of shock-capturing schemes. These schemes can be relatively dissipative and mask the subgrid-scale contribution introduced in a large-eddy simulation to account for the unresolved turbulence scales. To estimate their effective dissipation and their ability to resolve turbulence phenomena, shock-capturing schemes widely used for aeronautical applications, from second- to fifth-order space accuracy, are employed here for simulating well-known fundamental flows in subsonic and supersonic regimes. Direct and large-eddy numerical simulations are undertaken for the inviscid and viscous Taylor-Green vortex decay problem, the freely decaying homogeneous and isotropic turbulence, and the fully developed channel flow. For all the turbulent flows investigated, several turbulence statistics are computed and the numerical dissipation of the schemes tested is interpreted in terms of subgrid-scale dissipation in a LES context, yielding an equivalent Smagorinsky or dynamic coefficient. This coefficient is for all schemes of the same order of magnitude as the commonly accepted values in LES for the subgrid-scale term. On the grounds of this analysis and of the comparisons of the turbulence statistics with accurate data obtained in the literature, the addition of explicit subgrid-scale models to the shock-capturing schemes tested is not recommended. It is thus concluded that the use of the LES technique for compressible turbulent flows is not yet suitable for industrial applications. The aerodynamic phenomena generated by a high-speed train travelling in a tunnel are also discussed, their importance on the design of high-speed lies is pointed out, and the analysis tools commonly employed for their study are reviewed. To study numerically the three-dimensional, compressible and turbulent air flow around a high-speed train accelerating in a tunnel, by accounting for the unsteady effects at inlet and outlet boundaries due to the propagation of pressure waves generated at the train departure, new coupling conditions between one-dimensional and three-dimensional domains are developed. These conditions are applied successfully to the numerical simulation of the unsteady wake developing behind two- and three-dimensional vehicles, where the averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved with the turbulence modelling approach. The influence on the wake of the length of the vehicle tail is also discussed and results of multi-dimensional simulations are compared with one-dimensional data.

EPFL1999

One dimensional and multiscale models for blood flow circulation

The aim of this work is to provide mathematically sound and computationally effective tools for the numerical simulation of the interaction between fluid and structures as occurring, for instance, in the simulation of the human cardiovascular system. This problem is global, in the sense that local changes can modify the solution far away. From the point of view of computing and modelling this calls for the use of multiscale methods, where simplified models are used to treat the global problem leaving to more accurate models the local description. Moreover it is characterised by the appearance of pressure waves inside the vessels. In large arteries the vessel wall dynamics can be described by a thin elastic membrane model (Navier equation) while the fluid motion can be represented by the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible Newtonian fluids. Unfortunately, given the high levels of details furnished by this model, its computational complexity is dramatically high. Therefore reduced models have been developed. In particular, one-dimensional models, originally introduced by Euler, seem to be appropriate for the study in the time-space domain of pressure wave propagation induced by the interaction between the fluid and the vessel wall in the arterial tree. These reduced models are obtained after integrating the Navier-Stokes equations over a vessel section, supposed to be circular, and assuming an algebraic wall law to describe the relationship between pressure and wall deformation. They can be used in place of the more complex three dimensional fluid-structure models or in cooperation with them (multiscale approach). The first part of this work deals with one dimensional models. A reduced 1D model taken from literature is presented and analysed. Some extensions of the basic model, in particular with respect to vessel wall law (generalised string model) and more complex geometries (bifurcated and curved arteries), are also considered. Numerical schemes are proposed and some numerical results are presented. In the second part of this thesis we focus on a multiscale model. We consider a 55 arterial tree, described by the 1D model, coupled with lumped parameter models for heart and capillaries. In particular, specific attention has been devoted to the coupling between the left ventricle and the arterial system, whose physiopathological relevance is well known. This mathematical model gives good results in numerical tests and is able to describe the relevant features of the pressure wave propagation and reflections within the arterial system.

EPFL2004

Computational fluid dynamics for naval engineering problems

Nicola Parolini

EPFL2004

One dimensional and multiscale models for blood flow circulation

EPFL2004

Simulation of benchmark and industrial unsteady compressible turbulent fluid flows

Michele Mossi

EPFL1999