RBF-based mesh morphing approach to perform icing simulations in the aviation sector
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 26 February 2019
Issue publication date: 17 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Numerical simulation of icing has become a standard. Once the iced shape is known, however, the analyst needs to update the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) grid. This paper aims to propose a method to update the numerical mesh with ice profiles.
Design/methodology/approach
The present paper concerns a novel and fast radial basis functions (RBF) mesh morphing technique to efficiently and accurately perform ice accretion simulations on industrial models in the aviation sector. This method can be linked to CFD analyses to dynamically reproduce the ice growth.
Findings
To verify the consistency of the proposed approach, one of the most challenging ice profile selected in the LEWICE manual was replicated and simulated through CFD. To showcase the effectiveness of this technique, predefined ice profiles were automatically applied on two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cases using both commercial and open-source CFD solvers.
Practical implications
If ice accreted shapes are available, the meshless characteristic of the proposed approach enables its coupling with the CFD solvers currently supported by the RBF4AERO platform including OpenFOAM, SU2 and ANSYS Fluent. The advantages provided by the use of RBF are the high performance and reliability, due to the fast application of mesh smoothing and the accuracy in controlling surface mesh nodes.
Originality/value
As far as authors’ knowledge is concerned, this is the first time in scientific literature that RBF are proposed to handle icing simulations. Due to the meshless characteristic of the RBF mesh morphing, the proposed approach is cross solver and can be used for both 2D and 3D geometries.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the RBF4AERO project funded in part by the EUs 7th Framework Programme (FP7-AAT, 2007 - 2013) under Grant Agreement no. 605396.
Citation
Groth, C., Costa, E. and Biancolini, M.E. (2019), "RBF-based mesh morphing approach to perform icing simulations in the aviation sector", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 91 No. 4, pp. 620-633. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-07-2018-0178
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited