In this thesis, two problems in computational mechanics, namely aircraft water entry and wind energy, have been studied together with description of related theory and methodology. Fluid calculations are carried out with proper schemes and computational techniques, including the use of dynamic mesh with OpenFOAM as the platform. Subsequent analysis of the data provides valuable information for these real world problems. First, algorithms and numerical methods to solve the equations related to the problems are proposed. Model problems are solved to test these methods. Then, in the aircraft water entry problem, the complex and dynamic process of aircraft water entry problem is simulated under several cases. External loading data has been analyzed to estimate the severity of structural damage. The main finding is that the vertical diving case is actually a reasonable theory regarding the final moments of flight MH370 given the currently available information. In the wind energy problem, blade resolved simulations of wind turbines are carried out. The proper orthogonal decomposition analysis is shown to be capable of extracting dominant features of the turbulent flow. Interaction between wind generators are studied to find out that contra-rotating turbines can better capture energy in the wind. It has been demonstrated that the computational approach is advantageous in saving long and expensive processes of laboratory setup and measurements, while providing valuable information to the subject problem.
In this thesis, two problems in computational mechanics, namely aircraft water entry and wind energy, have been studied together with description of related theory and methodology. Fluid calculations are carried out with proper schemes and computational techniques, including the use of dynamic mesh with OpenFOAM as the platform. Subsequent analysis of the data provides valuable information for these real world problems.
First, algorithms and numerical methods to solve the equations related to the problems are proposed. Model problems are solved to test these methods. Then, in the aircraft water entry problem, the complex and dynamic process of aircraft water entry problem is simulated under several cases. External loading data has been analyzed to estimate the severity of structural damage. The main finding is that the vertical diving case is actually a reasonable theory regarding the final moments of flight MH370 given the currently available information. In the wind energy problem, blade resolved simulations of wind turbines are carried out. The proper orthogonal decomposition analysis is shown to be capable of extracting dominant features of the turbulent flow. Interaction between wind generators are studied to find out that contra-rotating turbines can better capture energy in the wind.
It has been demonstrated that the computational approach is advantageous in saving long and expensive processes of laboratory setup and measurements, while providing valuable information to the subject problem.
