Events Calendar

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series

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