Research

Research Interests

My research interests are primarily in the area of computational fluid dynamics. More specifically, I am most interested in:

• high-order numerical methods
• massively parallel flow solver development
• unstructured moving & deforming grids
• high performance computing
• vortical flows and turbulence

Research Activities

My research so far can be very generally summarized as numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations (and their variants) that govern the motion of fluids. The Navier-Stokes equations, when written in conservative form, are: $\begin{aligned} &\frac{\partial\rho}{\partial t} + \frac{\partial\rho u_j}{\partial x_j} = 0, \\[1.2em] &\frac{\partial\rho u_i}{\partial t} + \frac{\partial}{\partial x_j}(\rho u_i u_j + p \delta_{ij}) = \frac{\partial\tau_{ij}}{\partial x_j}, \\[1.2em] &\frac{\partial \rho E}{\partial t} + \frac{\partial}{\partial x_j}\Big((\rho E+p)u_j\Big) = \frac{\partial}{\partial x_j}(u_i \tau_{ij}) - \frac{\partial q_j}{\partial x_j}, \end{aligned}$ where $\rho$ is density, $u$ is velocity, $p$ is pressure, $\delta_{ij}$ is the the Kronecker delta, $\tau_{ij} = 2\mu e_{ij} + \lambda e_{kk} \delta_{ij}$ is the shear stress tensor, $\mu$ is the dynamic viscosity, $\lambda=-(2/3)\mu$ for Newtonian fluids based on Stokes assumption, $e_{ij} = (u_{i,j} + u_{j,i})/2$ is the strain rate tensor, $E=e+u_k u_k /2$ is the total energy per unit mass, $e$ is the internal energy per unit mass, $q_j = -\kappa \partial T/\partial x_j$ is the heat flux vector, $\kappa$ is the thermal conductivity, $T$ is temperature. For ideal gas, we have $p = \rho R T$, $e=p/(\rho(\gamma-1))$, where $R$ is the gas constant.

More specifically, I am working on or have worked on the following research topics/projects:

SHARP – A High-Order CFD Framework

Spectral Difference Method

Flux Reconstruction Method

Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Method

Sliding-Mesh SD/FR Method

High Performance Computing

Large Eddy Simulation

Wall Modeling (inactive)

Aero-Optics (inactive)