Aerodynamic Flight Coefficients using Parallel Computing Techniques

Abstract

The need of ensuring the trajectory of a projectile so as to achieve a target has always been a challenge for exterior ballistic engineers. One of the most suitable techniques consists in simulate the projectile at different angles of attack with Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software to obtain the corresponding aerodynamic coefficients. This paper aims at showing the advantages of utilizing parallel computing for obtaining the aerodynamic coefficients utilizing the CFD software Code Saturne. As a first step, a benchmark and a mesh convergence analysis is carried out to validate employed methodology. Then, several simulations are performed with a mesh convergence analysis in order to obtain the aerodynamic coefficients. Also, a scalability analysis is performed in a Beowulf cluster to measure the performance of the software.