Incorporating computational fluid dynamics code development into an undergraduate engineering course

Abstract

The teaching of computational fluid dynamics at the undergraduate level usually focuses on giving students an understanding of the numerical methods and details involved, supported by what are little more than code fragments, followed by learning an abstract form of computational fluid dynamics skills and processes, without any real interaction with the complex core computer coding behind what is often just ‘easy-to-use’ or ‘push button’ commercial interfaces. Quite often, as the student progresses in his/her use of computational fluid dynamics, especially in the research area, it becomes clear that an ‘off-the-shelf’ commercial computational fluid dynamics package is not able to satisfy all requirements to simulate a given problem fully, nor to obtain accurate results. The purpose of this paper is to outline what must be taught to add computer coding to what usually is a well-protected, though capable of being compiled and linked, core computer code so that the complexity of interacting is lessened and better understood.

An Efficient Strategy to Deliver Understanding of Both Numerical and Practical Aspects When Using Navier-Stokes Equations to Solve Fluid Mechanics Problems

“…The boundary conditions needed to solve Equations (14) and (15) for the classical computational fluid dynamics case, namely the lid-cavity flow [21], are shown on Figure 1.…”

“…The boundary conditions needed to solve Equations (14) and (15) for the classical computational fluid dynamics case, namely the lid-cavity flow [21], are shown on Figure 1. A rectangular box, where the lid is allowed to move in the horizontal plane from left to right, is simulated with the moving lid driving the fluid within the box.…”

“…Before describing the discretization of the governing equations, it is important to note that for convenience Equations (14) and (15) together with the boundary conditions were nondimensionalized using = ; = ; = ; = ; = ; Re =…”

“…Next came coding for Eqns. [14] and [15], i.e., for R k+1 ij and L k+1 ij followed by coding for the iterative algorithm. The mesh size for this problem and grid spacing had to be defined, and initially ω and ψ were set to zero for all nodes, except the top wall, where the vorticity is non-zero.…”

“…It is also important to ensure that the CFD GUIs are not treated as 'black boxes', without knowledge of what is going on inside the computer software. This is especially true as many commercial codes now provide the opportunity of attaching in-house coding to the main core of the software hence providing a gateway for enhanced research and code development [14]. Without knowledge of CFD fundamentals and the core coding, code development would not be possible.…”