Application of Parallel Computers to Enhance the Flow Modelling Capability in Aircraft Design

Sammanfattning: The development process for new aircraft configurations needs to be more efficient in terms of performance, cost and time to market. The potential to influence these factors is highest in early design phases. Thus, high confidence must be established in the product earlier than today. To accomplish this, the concept of virtual product development needs to be established. This implies having a mathematical representation of the product and its associated properties and functions, often obtained through numerical simulations. Building confidence in the product early in the development process through simulations postpones expensive testing and verification to later development stages when the design is more mature.To use this in aerodynamic design will mean introducing more advanced physical modelling of the flow as well as significantly reducing the turn around time for flow solutions.This work describes the benefit of using parallel computers for flow simulations in the aircraft design process. Reduced turn around time for flow simulations is a prerequisite for non-linear flow modelling in early design stages and a condition for introducing high-end turbulence models and unsteady simulations in later stages of the aircraft design process. The outcome also demonstrates the importance of bridging the gap between the research community and industrial applications.The computer platforms are very important to reduce the turn around time for flow simulations. With the recent popularity of Linux–clusters it is now possible to design cost efficient systems for a specific application. Two flow solvers are investigated for parallelperformance on various clusters. Hardware and software factors influencing the efficiency are analyzed and recommendations are made for cost efficiency and peak performance.