The development of future Air Force systems requires the development of flexible and efficient, high-fidelity, multi-physics, simulation capabilities. To be applicable within the design cycle, such capabilities must be capable of handling complex, full-configuration geometry and enable the designer to interchange vehicle components at-will, without substantial labor in grid re-generation. Additionally, the approaches must be computationally efficient to be relevant in the design process. The computational benefits of high-order techniques are being demonstrated in both fluids and structures simulations; namely, for a specified level of accuracy, significant reductions in computational time are achievable over traditional second order methods.

Multiple finite element discretization techniques such as Discontinuous Galerkin (DG), Hybridized Discontinuous Galerkin (HDG), Streamwise Upwind Petrov Galerkin (SUPG), and Flux Reconstruction (FR) schemes have been developed. Broad research opportunities for the advancement of such approaches to both fluid and multi-physics simulations encountered in aerospace system design exist. Such opportunities include (1) extension of techniques to overset framework, (2) stabilization of high-order methods in presence of sharp gradients and discontinuities (e.g., shock waves), (3) application to RANS turbulence modeling, (4) quantitative evaluation/comparison of computational efficiencies of various high-order discretization schemes, (5) development/exploration of multi-physics solver and domain couplings, and (6) development of multi-fidelity approaches to improve efficiency.

 

key words

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Finite element methods; Discontinuous Galerkin; Navier-Stokes; Turbulence; Aerodynamics; Partial differential equations; Overset methods; Compressible flow;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral and Senior applicants