Aerodynamics of a Rotating Wheel in a Wheelhouse: A Numerical Investigation using LES

The aerodynamic drag force is a crucial factor for passenger cars and trucks, where fuel economy is of utmost importance. While a lot of research has been performed to optimize the design of the upper-body of the vehicle, the flow over a rotating wheel that is enclosed by a wheelhouse is not understood to the same level. Estimates show that the...

Micro-Ramp Flow Dynamics

Micro-ramps are passive flow control devices used to delay flow separation. Their use is widespread due to their reduced drag and structural robustness. We reproduce with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) recent Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments of the micro-ramp flow performed at TU Delft to study the wake of a micro-ramp immersed...

Hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian Vortex Particle Method: A fast and accurate numerical method for 2D Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine

The wake geometry of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) is unlike the standard Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). The blades of the turbine continuously passes through its own wake, creating complex wake-body interactions such as flow separation and dynamic stall, and convectional grid-based numerical method which is capable of describing...

Impact of Turning Induced Shape Deformations on Aerodynamic Performance of Leading Edge Inflatable Kites: Master Thesis

With growing energy demands and a need to switch to a sustainable source of energy key stakeholders are considering the use of high altitude wind energy systems. TU Delft and its start up company kitepower are key stakeholders investigating the commercial viability of this technology. With this goal the research group has developed several kite...

Numerical Investigation of the Influence of Ground Effect on the FV Aircraft: Influence of Ground Effect on the Flying V Aircraft

In order to meet the growing market demands of quieter, more aerodynamically efficient aircrafts, manufacturers constantly strive to innovate and optimize their designs. Over the years however, the extent of innovation related to the conventional 'tubular fuselage' configurations have somewhat reached a stalemate as the gains obtained have only...

Latent Space Modelling of Unsteady Flow Subdomains: Thesis Report

Very complex flows can be expensive to compute using current CFD techniques. In this thesis, models based on deep learning were used to replace certain parts of the flow domain, with the objective of replacing well-known regions with simplified models to increase efficiency. To keep the error produced by the deep learning model bounded, a...

Wingtip-mounted propellers installed at a nonzero yaw angle: A numerical investigation

Propellers were the first means of powered propulsion for aircraft. However the development of propellers stalled due to the growing interest in jet propulsion. Due to the growing interest in more fuel efficient and environmentally responsible aviation, propeller research is currently seeing a resurgence. <br/><br/>Wingtip-mounted propellers are...

Multi-fidelity Co-Kriging Optimization using Hybrid Injected RANS and LES

The computation of complex turbulent flows design optimization processes is currently limited by the lack of accuracy of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) in massively separated flows and the infeasible cost of multiple Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) evaluations. A novel method is presented, injecting data from LES or other high-fidelity...

Aerodynamic Effects of the Flow Field in a Vehicle Rear Wheel Arch and its Effect on the Driving Resistance

The increasing importance of climate change and stricter regulations for greenhouse gas emissions raise the pressure on the automotive industry to develop more efficient products. Besides a reduction of emissions by new combustion engines, electric vehicles are being introduced to lower the fleet fuel economy. Especially this new drivetrain...

Aerodynamic Design of a Flying V Aircraft in Transonic Conditions

The Flying V is a long-range, flying-wing aircraft where payload and fuel both reside in a V-shaped, crescent wing with large winglets that double as vertical tail planes. The objective of this study is to maximize the lift-to-drag (&#x1d43f;/&#x1d437;) ratio of the Flying V in cruise conditions, i.e. &#x1d436;&#x1d43f; = 0.26, &#x1d440; = 0.85...

A Comparative Study to Assess the Accuracy of the Lifting Line Code AWSM for Simulating Winglets on Wind Turbines

Wind turbine power output has grown massively over the past few decades, and this has been achieved in part by increasing the size of rotors. But the size of rotors is now limited by structural constraints as well as space constraints in wind farms. It is therefore important to use other innovative methods to increase wind turbine capacity...

Multi-point aerodynamic shape optimization for airfoils and wings at supersonic and subsonic regimes

The second-generation of supersonic civil transport has to match ambitious targets in terms of noise reduction and efficiency to become economically and environmentally viable. High-fidelity numerical optimization offers a powerful approach to address the complex trade-offs intrinsic to this novel configuration. Past and current research however...

Inlet Design for a Propulsive Fuselage Concept: Exploring and evaluating geometrical inlet features based on a numerical approach

In this thesis, a submerged inlet type for the engine core of the boundary layer ingesting APPU (Advanced Propulsion and Power Unit) is designed. The aim is to evaluate key geometric parameters that impact the flow field at the intake region by computing 3D CFD simulations. Various designs are created where entrance thickness, corner radius,...