Engineering

Introduction

Currently the majority of engineering research carried out using HPC facilities is in the area of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). However this is now starting to change with an increasing number of proposals from other areas typically based on finite element analysis, including structural, geotechnical, nuclear and biomedical engineering.

Computational Fluid Dynamics is the process of modelling fluid flows by the numerical solution of the governing partial differential equations or other mathematical equations of motion. The research areas associated with CFD are widespread, including:

• Air flow around structures, as in aerodynamic studies of vehicles.
• Fluid flow around structures and within vessels (such as blood vessels).
• Combustion processes
• Turbulence - most flows can be significantly affected by turbulence, resulting in increased complexity and computational requirements.

There are both major consortia:

• UK Turbulence Consortium
• Large Eddy Simulation Consortium
• Consortium On Computational Combustion For Engineering Applications (COCCFEA)

and also a large number of smaller projects actively researching in CFD via the CSAR service. The codes used are typically user written for use on HPC systems. CFD is also one of the major areas of research currently performed on the CSAR service.

Details of examples are given below.

Example 1: Numerical Modelling of the Flame Front Dynamics

Vladimir Karlin and Jianqiang Mai of the University of Central Lancashire have been using CSAR machines to run numerical models of flame front dynamics. This work was initially carried out on Turing, our recently retired Cray T3E, but they have now graduated to Newton. Full article (PDF

Example 2: Large-Eddy Simulation of Wall Bounded Flows

Luca di Mare of Imperial College, London has been using CSAR machines to run numerical models of wall-bounded turbulent flows using the large-eddy simluation approach. This is part of a comprehensive study of the flow and heat transfer inside the ASTEC model combustor, used in small gas turbine engines for helicopters and small turbofans. Full article (PDF)

Example 3: Impulsive Start of 3-D Shear Driven Cavity Flows

Dr. Antonio Filippone's research focuses on unsteady fluid dynamics with particular emphasis on rotating, oscillating and transient systems. His work on CSAR was as a class 2 project on the origins. Full article (PDF)

Example 4: Large Eddy Simulation of Separation from Continuous Surface

Lionel Temmerman and Michael Leschziner of Imperial College used CSAR systems to study large Eddy simulations of wall bounded flows. Their class 1 project mostly used resources on Turing and then later on Green. Full article (PDF)