Incorporating Computational Fluid Dynamics Into The Preliminary Design Cycle Incorporating Computational Fluid Dynamics Into The Preliminary Design Cycle

by Shelley, Jonathan Knighton

Industry is constantly looking for ways to bring new or derivative products to market in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of money. To accomplish this, Industry has adopted Computer Aided Engineering (CAX) tools that perform structural, flow, manufacturing, and cost analysis. The way in which a company utilizes these CAX tools can determine the success of these new products.

One of these tools that Industry often struggles with in the preliminary design of a product is Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Some of the challenges presented by CFD are the time it takes to create a CAD model, generate a valid grid for analysis, obtain a solution, post-process results, and review the result. The objective of this thesis is to develop an approach that will reduce the time it takes to go from a concept to a solution ready for review. This approach, addresses how to first, build CAD model for use in downstream applications, second, automate the grid generation process, and third, automate the post process and documentation of the results.

Using this approach a conceptual study of a two stream mixing problem was performed. The approach showed that the creation of the first model took about twenty percent longer than the standard practice used in industry today. However, once the first model was completed, different concepts could be added to the CAD model and be ready for analysis in less than half the time when compared to standard practices. This time savings can then be used to explore more concepts. After each model was analyzed, it was post-processed using an automated script. With the post-processed results the Design Review Tool (DRT) was developed to automate the documentation of the results. Using the DRT each post-processed case was organized into a web page and saved for review in less than five seconds.

This approach will enable the aerospace, automotive, and other industries to use CFD to more effectively explore the design space in the development of new and derivative products. This research demonstrates the process to reduce the time required to go from CAD-to-Grid, postprocess the results, and create the documentation needed to develop new products.