AUTOMATED APPLICATION OF NAVIER-STOKES SOLUTIONS TO MECHANICAL DESIGN

DUCTS ARE CURRENTLY DESIGNED THROUGH SERIES OF CALCULATIONS AND TESTS, WHICH ARE PERFORMED UNTIL A DUCT MEETING CERTAIN DESIGN CRITERIA IS OBTAINED. THE PROPOSED INNOVATION WOULD PROVIDE AN EASILY UTILIZED TOOL FOR DESIGN OF A DUCT WHICH IS OPTIMUM FOR A SPECIFIC APPLICATION. USE OF MANY MODERN CFD CODES CURRENTLY REQUIRES AERODYNAMICISTS WITH ADVANCED DEGREES AND EXPERTISE IN NUMERICAL METHODS. UNFORTUNATELY, THE DESIGN ENGINEER WHO HAS THE GREATEST NEED FOR THESE MODERN COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS IS OFTEN UNABLE TO UTILIZE MODERNCFD CODES PERSONALLY. THE INNOVATION OF THE PROPOSED EFFORTIS THE COMBINATION OF THREE ELEMENTS: 1) EXISTING ROBUST COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR COMPUTING TWO-DIMENSIONAL AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL TURBULENT FLOW, 2) EFFICIENT, PROVEN OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR MULTIDIMENSIONAL ENGINEERING PROBLEMS, AND 3) A WORKSTATION-BASED INTERFACE THAT WOULD ALLOW MODERN CFD CODES TO BE ACCESSIBLE TO A BROAD RANGE OF DESIGN ENGINEERS.