PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - CharLES, a high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, is revolutionizing the aerospace industry by significantly reducing the time and cost required to simulate and troubleshoot the aerodynamics inside aircraft engines.
Developed through NAVAIR's Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, CharLES utilizes large eddy simulation (LES), along with advanced computer processing units (CPUs) and graphical processing units (GPUs), to deliver results far faster than traditional methods.
Sailors assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) test a jet engine cell on the ship's fantail. CharLES is reducing the time and cost it takes to simulate the aerodynamics inside an aircraft's engine and troubleshoot problems.
CFD, a crucial science in aerospace, involves using computational methods to analyze fluid flows, including factors such as temperature, pressure, velocity, and density of air or liquids around or through objects. This data is essential for troubleshooting, modifying, or testing engine designs, explained Dr. Russell Powers, Science and Technology Lead at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Computational Fluid Dynamics and Noise Branch. However, current industry-standard CFD tools rely on steady-state turbulence models, which simulate engine components individually, leading to poorly approximated aerothermal interactions during various operational conditions.
CharLES addresses this issue by providing a more accurate and efficient CFD solution. "There is a strong persistent need in naval aviation for improved CFD tools to support both early trade studies, initial detailed design, system redesign, and retrofit efforts related to gas turbine engine development and integration," said Powers.
Originally developed by Cascade Technologies, now part of Cadence Design Systems, CharLES excels in tackling fluid dynamics challenges. It accurately predicts traditionally complex CFD problems in aeroacoustics, aerodynamics, combustion, heat transfer, and multiphase flows. The solver has been optimized to minimize memory usage and can scale linearly across hundreds of GPUs and dozens of nodes.
Tests of CharLES demonstrated substantial reductions in total simulation time and costs, with engine simulations completed in hours or days instead of weeks. Powers attributes this efficiency to the use of emerging high-performance computing hardware on GPUs.
"This capability to rapidly and reliably simulate multiple designs—and to correctly understand design directional trends at realistic conditions—can and already has supplemented flight test results," said Michael Smith, Lead at the Computational Fluid Dynamics and Noise Branch.
Smith emphasized the practical benefits of CharLES: "It's a tool that supports early trade studies, initial detailed designs, and system redesign/retrofit efforts related to gas turbine engine design and integration in a way that captures the complex turbulence critical to improved engine design and analysis."
The development and enhancement of CharLES continue. The Computational Fluid Dynamics and Noise Branch plans to license the software through a cost-sharing program with the Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). Further development at Cadence Design Systems is also underway. Additionally, NAWCAD is leveraging a DoD HPCMP Frontier project to enable transient, full-engine simulations using CharLES. These Frontier projects benefit from extensive support within the HPCMP ecosystem, including DSRCs, user support, software development, PET, and networking.
The potential applications of CharLES extend beyond aerospace. "The software is expanding the practical application of LES to a broad range of engineering applications beyond aerospace—to include automotive and turbomachinery as well," Powers noted. "I also believe the use of an efficient, accurate, high-fidelity simulation software in a production environment would prove to be a disruptive, game-changing technology in NAWCAD and across aeronautics."
No comments:
Post a Comment