(Huntsville, Ala. | July 23, 2021) – CFD Research has been awarded a $1M Army contract to further develop an innovative Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Machine Learning (ML) based computational tool for accurate and rapid prediction of transient turbulent flow, heat transfer and thermal signatures. The survivability of military vehicles and their occupants often depends on efficient control of their thermal infrared (IR) signature as IR emissions, stemming from the thermal load, of military vehicles are used to detect, track, and lock-on to the target. Thermal modeling is typically used in order to predict and achieve performance goals related to the control of IR signatures.
“Existing methods for human and vehicle thermal signature prediction are either computationally demanding or inaccurate, and therefore ill-suited for multi-condition parametric analysis, trade-space exploration, and design optimization of military ground vehicles,” Mr. Andrew Kaminsky, Group Leader at CFD Research said. “This online CFD-MOR analysis approach could lead to orders-of-magnitude speedup over the traditional CFD methods while maintaining comparable accuracy.”
In prior work, key technology elements of the hybrid simulation methodology, including the turbulent-thermal full order model (FOM), incremental proper orthogonal decomposition (iPOD), reduced-order model (ROM), and model switch decision maker were developed in a modular software environment. Extensive case studies of Army relevance demonstrated the technology with excellent computational performance was demonstrated.
For this follow-on effort, equation-based ROMs will be optimized in performance and functionality, and extended to turbulent flow. Data-driven ROMs will be developed to enable non-intrusive integration with the third-party CFD and signature analysis tools being used in CCDC GVSC (formerly TARDEC). The technology will then be inserted into GVSC workflows for rapid transient flow and thermal simulation and signature prediction.
“This project will build our existing model order reduction (MOR) portfolio, in this case as it applies to conduction, convection and radiation heat transfer for signature analysis of ground vehicles,” Dr. Kapil Pant, CFD Research Executive Vice President said. “This is our first ROM based contract with CCDC GVSC – so we are looking forward to supporting their mission and growing that relationship.”
The success in the proposed research will markedly enhance the flow and thermal signature modeling, simulation and design capabilities of DoD. The commercial application would be a stand-alone, rapid, transient, CFD-based solver for human and vehicle thermal modeling. It will find use in various engineering sections, including NASA, automobile, semiconductor, combustion, power and aerospace industry, chemical plants, biomedical companies, micro-electronic-mechanical systems (MEMS) and microfluidics manufacturers among many others.
About CFD Research: Since its inception in 1987, CFD Research has worked with government agencies, businesses and academia to provide innovative solutions within the Aerospace & Defense, Biomedical & Life Sciences, and Energy & Materials industries. Over the years CFD Research has earned multiple national awards for successful application and commercialization of innovative technology prototypes, multi-physics simulation software, multi-disciplinary analyses, and expert support services. CFD Research’s impressive >70% three-year growth rate was high enough to recognize the company in the Inc. Magazine’s 5000 for the first time this year. CFD Research is an ISO9001 and AS9100 registered company and is appraised at CMMI Level II for services. Learn more at www.cfd-research.com.
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