RBF-based mesh morphing approach to perform icing simulations in the aviation sector

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.

The analysis of grid independence study in continuous disperse of MQL delivery system

“…It is also important for CFD analysis to set the right iteration number as it is a step to generate a complete computational study and accurate result [24,27]. For instance, Growth et al [28] simulated their CFD MQL mist flow at different iterations number to properly match the distributions of the particles. While Figures 7 and 8 show that at 40 iterations, the flow lengths were shortened with the increase of node number.…”

Combining Analytical Models and Mesh Morphing Based Optimization Techniques for the Design of Flying Multihulls Appendages

“…Among the several algorithms available in literature, Radial Basis Functions (RBF) are recognized to be one of the best mathematical frameworks to deal with the mesh morphing problem (Jakobsson & Amoignon, 2007). Its efficiency was successfully demonstrated in several engineering problems as shape optimization (Kapsoulis, et al, 2016), ice accretion (Groth, et al, 2019), biomedical engineering (Capellini, et al, 2020), static (Cella & Biancolini, 2012) and dynamic FSI analyses (Martinez-Pascual, et al, 2020) including application with sails (Viola, et al, 2015) and structural problems (Biancolini, 2014). It also offers great opportunities to improve the potentialities of analysis methodologies based on Reduced-Order Models (ROM) (Castronovo, et al, 2017).…”

Level-Set Mass-Conservative Front-Tracking Technique for Multistep Simulations of In-Flight Ice Accretion

“…However, these schemes, which are transparent with respect to the grid connectivity, allow a limited displacement and require global and local smoothing techniques to preserve grid quality [9,12]. Similarly, radial basis function (RBF) [13,14] has been recently applied also to in-flight ice accretion problem [15,16], but it seems unable to preserve a good quality mesh when dealing with complex geometries and large displacements. However, none of these methods could deal with the issue, common in multi-step ice accretion simulations, of mesh entanglement, depicted in Fig.…”