Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for February
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Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Tue, Feb 03, 2015 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amanda Randles, Lawrence Fellow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at Livermore, CA
Talk Title: Using Massively Parallel Simulation to Study Human Disease
Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: The recognition of the role hemodynamic forces have in the localization and development of disease has motivated large-scale efforts to enable patient-specific simulations. When combined with computational approaches that can extend the models to include physiologically accurate hematocrit levels in large regions of the circulatory system, these image-based models yield insight into the underlying mechanisms driving disease progression and inform surgical planning or the design of next generation drug delivery systems. Building a detailed, realistic model of human blood flow, however, is a formidable mathematical and computational challenge. The models must incorporate the motion of fluid, intricate geometry of the blood vessels, continual pulse-driven changes in flow and pressure, and the behavior of suspended bodies such as red blood cells. In this talk, I will discuss the development of HARVEY, a parallel fluid dynamics application designed to model hemodynamics in patient-specific geometries. I will cover the methods introduced to reduce the overall time-to-solution and enable near-linear strong scaling on up to 1,572,864 core of the IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer. Finally, I will present the expansion of the scope of projects to address not only vascular diseases, but also treatment planning and the movement of circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream.
Biography: Amanda Randles is a Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow working in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at LLNL. Working with Professors Efthimios Kaxiras and Hanspeter Pfister, she completed her Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Harvard University with a secondary field in Computational Science in 2013. In 2010 she obtained her Master's Degree in Computer Science from Harvard University. Prior to graduate school, she worked for three years as a software developer at IBM on the Blue Gene Development Team. Her primary roles were in application development and performance analysis. She received her Bachelor's Degree in both Computer Science and Physics from Duke University.
Host: --
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Valerie Childress
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Wed, Feb 04, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John B. Bell, Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Low Mach Number Simulation of Turbulent Combustion
Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: Numerical simulation of turbulent reacting flows with comprehensive kinetics is one of the most demanding areas of computational fluid dynamics. High-fidelity modeling requires accurate fluid mechanics, detailed models for multicomponent transport and detailed chemical mechanisms. An important aspect of turbulent flames in most combustion systems is that they occur in a low Mach number regime. By exploiting the separation of scales inherent in low Mach number flows one can potentially obtain significant computational savings, enabling a wider range of problems to be modeled. However, accurate numerical solution of the low Mach number reacting flow equations, which are structurally similar to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, introduces a number of challenges. Here, we discuss some of these issues, focusing on treating the low Mach number constraint and the coupling of processes with different temporal scales. Results illustrating the methodology on turbulent combustion problems with detailed chemistry and transport will be presented.
Biography: John Bell is a Senior Staff Mathematician at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Chief Scientist of Berkeley Labâs Computational Research Division. His research focuses on the development and analysis of numerical methods for partial differential equations arising in science and engineering. He has made contributions in the areas of finite volume methods, numerical methods for low Mach number flows, adaptive mesh refinement, stochastic differential equations, interface tracking and parallel computing. He has also worked on the application of these numerical methods to problems from a broad range of fields, including combustion, shock physics, seismology, and flow in porous media, mesoscale fluid modeling and astrophysics.
Host: Paul Ronney
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Valerie Childress
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Wed, Feb 11, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Kevin K. Chen , Viterbi Fellow in the Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Talk Title: Low Mach Number Simulation of Turbulent CombustionOptimal Actuator and Sensor Placement for Feedback Flow Control
Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: Feedback control has an enormous potential to manipulate fluid flows in desirable ways. It may one day effect, for instance, a significant improvement in vehicle performance and efficiency. One fundamental question has remained unanswered, however: where should the feedback system's actuators and sensors be located in the flow? The state of the art is shockingly insufficient; the vast majority of flow control studies use trial and error, or otherwise flawed heuristics.
In this seminar, we will explore why some actuator and sensor placements are more effective than others. Specifically, we will examine the optimal control of the Ginzburg-Landau and Orr-Sommerfeld/Squire equations, using localized actuators and sensors. By implementing a novel algorithm for the gradient of a control performance measure with respect to actuator and sensor positions, we can iterate efficiently toward optimal positions in these fluid flow models. The control theoretical and physical interpretations of the optimal placements yield a set of heuristics that may help control designers predict effective actuator and sensor placements. In particular, we will discuss the respective pros and cons of heuristics based on fundamental control limitations, eigenmodes, sensitivity to spatially localized feedback, optimal growth, and impulse responses.
Biography: Kevin Chen is presently a Viterbi Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California, in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering department. He attended Caltech as an Axline Scholar, where he received a B.S. with Honor in Engineering and Applied Science, with a focus in Aeronautics, in 2009. At Caltech, he conducted research in experimental and computational fluid dynamics with Mory Gharib, Beverley McKeon, and Tim Colonius. He attended Princeton University as a Gordon Y. S. Wu fellow, where he received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2011 and 2014, respectively, under the advising of Clancy Rowley and Howard Stone. He has received support from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the DOD NDSEG and NSF GRFP fellowships, and awards from Caltech and Princeton University. Kevin's primary research interest is the development of feedback flow control, where fluid mechanics intersect with modern control theory, stability theory, dynamical systems, and computational methods.
Host: Paul Ronney
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Valerie Childress
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Wed, Feb 25, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alejandra Uranga, Research Engineer in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Talk Title: Recent Research in CFD and Aerodynamics
Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: This talk will present two research areas in aerodynamics. The first part will focus on the simulation of flows around straight and swept wings with separation-bubble transition at low Reynolds numbers. The findings are relevant to the design of Micro Air Vehicles and the study of animal flight. We use an Implicit Large Eddy Simulation approach with a high-order Discontinuous Galerkin finite element method. The physical formulation is based only on first principles, and does not rely on explicit empirical subgrid models. The simulations were used to quantify the relative importance of Tollmien-Schlichting and Cross-Flow wave instabilities for a range of wing sweep angles. We also demonstrate the importance of non-linear TS and CF instability interactions for intermediate sweep angles.
In the second part of this presentation we will present recent theoretical and experimental work targeting new energy-efficient transport aircraft. Novel configurations together with boundary layer ingesting propulsion promise very large savings in fuel burn even with current structural and engine technology. The experimental work is the first definitive measurement of the aerodynamic benefits of boundary layer ingestion for a realistic transport aircraft configuration.
Biography: Dr Alejandra Uranga is a Research Engineer in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She holds a MASc from the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, and a PhD degree from MIT. Her research has been in Computational Fluid Dynamics, specifically the modeling and simulation of turbulence and transition. She is currently the project Technology Lead for design, development, simulation, and wind tunnel testing of an advanced transport aircraft concept under the NASA N+3 program.
Host: Paul Ronney
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Valerie Childress
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
