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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 4
    Citation - Scopus: 5
    Numerical Investigation of Store Separation From Cavity Problems at High Speeds
    (Sage Publications Ltd, 2023) Abuhanieh, Saleh; Akay, Hasan U.
    In this work, the ability of open-source CFD tools to conduct store separation simulations from cavities is evaluated and validated using a generic test case from the literature. Firstly, the ability and accuracy of these tools for solving cavity flows at high speeds are evaluated. Secondly, their competence in predicting the trajectory of a generic store from a generic deep cavity is checked. Finally, and in order to reduce the associated computational costs, a release-time dependability factor from the recent literature is studied and evaluated. The obtained results using the selected open-source CFD tools matched quite well with the wind tunnel results. Furthermore, the results show that predicting the release-time dependability using a quantified index/factor can be a potential remedy for reducing the computational cost for this type of CFD simulations.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 7
    Citation - Scopus: 7
    A New Strategy for Solving Store Separation Problems Using Openfoam
    (Sage Publications Ltd, 2022) Abuhanieh, Saleh; Akay, Hasan U.; Bicer, Baris
    The ability of OpenFOAM to solve the problem of a store separating from an air vehicle (store separation problem) has been evaluated using a dynamic mesh (Overset/Chimera) technique for an industry-class (transonic and generic) benchmark test case. The major limitations of the standard libraries have been determined. To tackle these challenges, a new strategy has been proposed and implemented using only open-source libraries and tools. The strategy combines porting, modifying, and adapting an overset library from the OpenFOAM fork platform (foam-extend) to the standard OpenFOAM platform (ESI). Furthermore, in order to overcome the well-known weakness of the standard OpenFOAM compressible solvers, the newly adapted overset library was integrated with an open-source, density-based, and coupled solver (HiSA), which uses the OpenFOAM technology. Additionally, a force restrained model was developed to consider the externally applied forces on the store by the store ejectors. The accuracy of the developed strategy has been compared with wind tunnel tests and the solutions of two well-known commercial codes, showing good agreements with them. While the study has focused on simulations with inviscid Euler equations (typical of the test case considered here), the viscosity effect on the solution has also been studied with Navier-Stokes equations and compared with other results in the literature, showing minor differences. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first work which studies and validates the store separation problem in transonic regime with OpenFOAM.
  • Article
    A Gradient Enhanced Efficient Global Optimization-Driven Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Framework
    (MDPI, 2025) Senol, Niyazi; Akay, Hasan U.; Yigit, Sahin
    The aerodynamic optimization of airfoil shapes remains a critical research area for enhancing aircraft performance under various flight conditions. In this study, the RAE 2822 airfoil was selected as a benchmark case to investigate and compare the effectiveness of surrogate-based methods under an Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) framework and an adjoint-based approach in both single-point and multi-point optimization settings. Prior to optimization, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was validated against experimental data to ensure accuracy. For the surrogate-based methods, Kriging (KRG), Kriging with Partial Least Squares (KPLS), Gradient-Enhanced Kriging (GEK), and Gradient-Enhanced Kriging with Partial Least Squares (GEKPLS) were employed. In the single-point optimization, the GEK method achieved the highest drag reduction, outperforming other approaches, while in the multi-point case, GEKPLS provided the best overall improvement. Detailed comparisons were made against existing literature results, with the proposed methods showing competitive and superior performance, particularly in viscous, transonic conditions. The results underline the importance of incorporating gradient information into surrogate models for achieving high-fidelity aerodynamic optimizations. The study demonstrates that surrogate-based methods, especially those enriched with gradient information, can effectively match or exceed the performance of gradient-based adjoint methods within reasonable computational costs.
  • Conference Object
    Effects of Chamber Pressure Variation on Pollutant Formation in Cryogenic Combustion
    (Ieee, 2021) Omair, Muhammad; Akay, Hasan U.
    Liquid rocket engines have played a major role in enabling the pursuit of space exploration. Cryogenic propellants have simplified the storage in liquid rocket engines with higher densities and lower pressures. One of the main driving forces in today's engine research is the reduction of pollutants while keeping the fuel consumption as low as possible. In this study cryogenic combustion has been simulated using the `Steady Laminar Flamelet' approach. Pollutant concentrations have been evaluated at different chamber pressures. It has been shown that combustion at higher chamber pressures results in less pollutant formation.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 18
    Citation - Scopus: 25
    Three-Dimensional Structural Topology Optimization of Aerial Vehicles Under Aerodynamic Loads
    (Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2014) Oktay, Erdal; Akay, Hasan Umur; Akay, Hasan U.; Sehitoglu, Onur T.; Akay, Hasan Umur; Automotive Engineering; Automotive Engineering
    A previously developed density distribution-based structural topology optimization algorithm coupled with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver for aerodynamic force predictions is extended to solve large-scale problems to reveal inner structural details of a wing wholly rather than some specific regions. Resorting to an iterative conjugate gradient algorithm for the solution of the structural equilibrium equations needed at each step of the topology optimizations allowed the solution of larger size problems, which could not be handled previously with a direct equation solver. Both the topology optimization and CFD codes are parallelized to obtain faster solutions. Because of the complexity of the computed aerodynamic loads, a case study involving optimization of the inner structure of the wing of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) led to topologies, which could not be obtained by intuition alone. Post-processing features specifically tailored for visualizing computed topologies proved to be good design tools in the hands of designers for identifying complex structural components. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.