Executive Summary : | Engineering problems often involve complex geometries where the boundary does not align with the coordinate lines of a structured grid. Meshing and convergence are significant issues for simulating physical problems around these geometries, especially in hypersonic flow involving moving and ablating surfaces. Ablative materials are used in various applications to protect metallic substrates against high thermal heat loads. Accurate prediction of convective and radiative heat loads is necessary, and the evaluation of the thermal response of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) is essential for designing heat shields. The Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) has emerged as an attractive tool to overcome problems associated with complex geometry with moving/deforming boundaries. IBM does not significantly affect grid complexity and quality when simulating a non-boundary conforming Cartesian grid. It can handle moving boundaries due to the stationary non-deforming Cartesian grid. IBM uses less memory and CPU compared to traditional methods, such as body-fitted grids and belonging transformations. However, there are still challenges to be addressed, particularly in high-speed flows and surface ablation. There is a great opportunity for research in this computationally challenging aspect of CFD. Recently, the PI developed a material response code for ablative materials in a DRDO funded project, which involved uncouple simulation of receding material surfaces subject to convective and radiative heat loads. |