The goal is of this project is to develop a user-friendly CFD tool based on the spectral-element, general geometry computer code, NEKTON, to compute the transition to turbulence in complex geometry flows. The spectral-element, flow solvers in NEKTON offer the advantage of accuracy, efficiency, and robustness in comparison with other numerical methods. This code will be enhanced through the introduction of a renormalization- group-based subgrid model to allow the code to calculate from laminar flow to developed turbulence. Phase I will study prototypical, complex geometry flows, will explore the supercritical versus subcritical character of shear-flow transition in complex geometry, and will test the RNG sub-grid model. Phase II would extend NEKTON into a general- purpose, transition-simulation tool for engineering through improved meshing schemes, improved subgrid models, and general purpose interfaces to workstations.
Potential Commercial Applications: The enhanced NEKTON transition analyzer should reduce design costs and improve design reliability for airframe manufacturers, process and manufacturing industries, and users of any industrial process in which flow stability is important.STATUS: Phase I Only
