An adaptive moving grid finite difference method

The grid generation is very crucial for the accuracy of the numerical solution of PDEs, especially for problems with very rapid variations or sharp layers, such as shock waves, wing leading and trailing edges, regions of separation, and boundary layers. The adaptive grid generation is an iterative approach to accommodate these complex structures. In this paper, we introduce a deformation based adaptive grid generation method, in which a differentiable and invertible transformation from computational domain to physical domain is constructed such that the cell volume (Jacobian determinant) of the new grid is equal to a prescribed monitor function. A vector field is obtained by solving the div-curl system and can be used to move the grids to the desired locations. By computing the inverse of Jacobian, any deformed grids can also be transformed back to the uniform grid. Several numerical results in two dimensions are presented. Some applications in image registration are discussed.

Numerical Investigation of Interaction of Counter Flow Jet and Hypersonic Capsule Flow Via Modified DsmcFoam

In this work, numerical investigation of interaction of counter flow jet and hypersonic re-entry capsule flow has been carried out through modification of DsmcFoam solver. The DsmcFoam modification includes implementation of variable soft sphere (VSS) collision model for more accurate collision model, adjustment of nonuniform initial condition for faster convergence and nonuniform boundary condition, calculation of local Knudsen number in postprocessing for adaptive grid generation, and implementation of different gas species for multigas flow interaction simulations. Therefore, the modified DsmcFoam can be used for investigation of the effect of counter flow jet on the vehicle aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics. New validation test cases from Von Karman gas dynamics facility (VKF) tunnel data of Apollo and blunt-cone re-entry geometries are studied via DsmcFoam in which a suitable agreement of results is observed compared to experimental data and also MONACO code computations. Also, the influence of counter flow jet has been presented, i.e., changing of bow shock configuration and its distance from the vehicle. Consequently, it is observed that by increasing counter flow jet velocity or density, reduction of the drag coefficient and heat flux on the vehicle will occur. Furthermore, variation of the velocity or density of counter flow jet leads to different jet-flow interaction patterns which are presented evidently.

Experimental and Numerical Investigations on Traveling Charge Gun Using Liquid Fuels

The traveling charge (TC) concept is theoretically capable of producing higher muzzle velocities without a large increase in maximum operating pressure, compared with the conventional charge. This work presents experimental and numerical studies on a 35 mm test gun system using liquid fuels as traveling charge. Eight firings with 2 different configurations of booster charge and traveling charge are performed in this paper. The firing experimental results indicate that the liquid traveling charge configuration performs better, in terms of increased muzzle velocity, than a conventional propellant charge by approximately 94 m/s, corresponding to about 8% velocity increase. A mathematical model for the two-phase flows in the 35 mm test gun system using liquid fuels as traveling charge is established and simulated by using the two-phase flow method and computational fluid dynamics technology. The mathematical model for the two-phase gas-dynamical processes consists of a system of first-order, nonlinear coupled partial differential equations. An adaptive grid generation algorithm is developed to account for the expansion of the computational domain due to the motion of the system’s payload in the tube. The numerical code is well validated by comparing its predictions with the experimental results. The calculated pressure-time profiles and projectile muzzle velocity are in good agreement with the experimental data. The numerical results show that the mathematical model developed gives the correct trend and can provide useful calculated parameters for the structural design of liquid traveling charge.