Oliviero, Nick B (2015-05). EPIC: A New and Advanced Nonlinear Parabolized Stability Equation Solver. Master's Thesis. Thesis uri icon

abstract

  • Recent years have witnessed the linear and nonlinear parabolized stability equations (PSE) become a quintessential component toward understanding boundary-layer laminarto-turbulent transition. Because of the abundant benefits an accurate and trustworthy computational analysis can provide, wind tunnel experiments are commonly supplemented with such studies. Prompted by the rising need to develop a fast, modern, intuitive, and user-friendly PSE code, this work describes the development, validation, and verification of EPIC. EPIC is a new Nonlinear Parabolized Stability Equation (NPSE) solver developed in-house in our Computational Stability and Transition (CST) lab that will aid in the study, understanding, and prediction of laminar-to-turbulent boundary layer transition problems. This entirely new code is an improvement upon and is intended to replace CST's prior NPSE solver, called JoKHeR. PSE results computed for the NASA Langley 93-10 flared cone, Purdue compression cone, and SWIFTER airfoil are compared and show successful agreement with published computational and experimental results. It is expected that further application of a physics-based approach such as EPIC will lead to more accurate prediction, smaller and more manageable uncertainties in design, and an improved fundamental understanding of the laminar-turbulent transition process that will lead to efficient control strategies.

publication date

  • May 2015