Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the free-stream flow of the fluid, and the interaction of the fluid with surfaces defined by boundary conditions. With high-speed supercomputers, better solutions can be achieved, and are often required to solve the largest and most complex problems. Ongoing research yields software that improves the accuracy and speed of complex simulation scenarios such as transonic or turbulent flows. Initial validation of such software is typically performed using experimental apparatus such as wind tunnels. In addition, previously performed analytical or empirical analysis of a particular problem can be used for comparison. A final validation is often performed using full-scale testing, such as flight tests.
Numerical methods for partial differential equations is the branch of numerical analysis that studies the numerical solution of partial differential equations (PDEs).
In numerical analysis, a multigrid method is an algorithm for solving differential equations using a hierarchy of discretizations. They are an example of a class of techniques called multiresolution methods, very useful in problems exhibiting multiple scales of behavior. For example, many basic relaxation methods exhibit different rates of convergence for short- and long-wavelength components, suggesting these different scales be treated differently, as in a Fourier analysis approach to multigrid. MG methods can be used as solvers as well as preconditioners.
Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical, and biomedical engineering, as well as geophysics, oceanography, meteorology, astrophysics, and biology.
Computational mechanics is the discipline concerned with the use of computational methods to study phenomena governed by the principles of mechanics. Before the emergence of computational science as a "third way" besides theoretical and experimental sciences, computational mechanics was widely considered to be a sub-discipline of applied mechanics. It is now considered to be a sub-discipline within computational science.
Lloyd Nicholas Trefethen is an American mathematician, professor of numerical analysis and head of the Numerical Analysis Group at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford.
In mathematics, the Trefftz method is a method for the numerical solution of partial differential equations named after the German mathematician Erich Trefftz(de) (1888–1937). It falls within the class of finite element methods.
In mathematics, in particular numerical analysis, the FETI method is an iterative substructuring method for solving systems of linear equations from the finite element method for the solution of elliptic partial differential equations, in particular in computational mechanics In each iteration, FETI requires the solution of a Neumann problem in each substructure and the solution of a coarse problem. The simplest version of FETI with no preconditioner in the substructure is scalable with the number of substructures but the condition number grows polynomially with the number of elements per substructure. FETI with a preconditioner consisting of the solution of a Dirichlet problem in each substructure is scalable with the number of substructures and its condition number grows only polylogarithmically with the number of elements per substructure. The coarse space in FETI consists of the nullspace on each substructure.
Roger Meyer Temam is a French applied mathematician working in numerical analysis, nonlinear partial differential equations and fluid mechanics. He graduated from the University of Paris – the Sorbonne in 1967, completing a doctorate under the direction of Jacques-Louis Lions. He has published over 400 articles, as well as 12 books.
Roland Glowinski was a French-American mathematician. He obtained his PhD in 1970 from Jacques-Louis Lions and was known for his work in applied mathematics, in particular numerical solution and applications of partial differential equations and variational inequalities. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and held an endowed chair at the University of Houston from 1985. Glowinski wrote many books on the subject of mathematics. In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Randall J. LeVeque is a Professor of Applied Mathematics at University of Washington who works in many fields including numerical analysis, computational fluid dynamics, and mathematical theory of conservation laws. Among other contributions, he is lead developer of the open source software project Clawpack for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations using the finite volume method. With Zhilin Li, he has also devised a numerical technique called the immersed interface method for solving problems with elastic boundaries or surface tension.
Jinchao Xu is an American-Chinese mathematician. He is currently the Verne M. Willaman Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park. He is known for his work on multigrid methods, domain decomposition methods, finite element methods, and more recently deep neural networks.
In applied mathematics, the name finite pointset method is a general approach for the numerical solution of problems in continuum mechanics, such as the simulation of fluid flows. In this approach the medium is represented by a finite set of points, each endowed with the relevant local properties of the medium such as density, velocity, pressure, and temperature.
The following is a timeline of numerical analysis after 1945, and deals with developments after the invention of the modern electronic computer, which began during Second World War. For a fuller history of the subject before this period, see timeline and history of mathematics.
Thomas Yizhao Hou is the Charles Lee Powell Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics in the Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. He is known for his work in numerical analysis and mathematical analysis.
Sara Zahedi is an Iranian-Swedish mathematician who works in computational fluid dynamics and holds an associate professorship in numerical analysis at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. She is one of ten winners and the only female winner of the European Mathematical Society Prize for 2016 "for her outstanding research regarding the development and analysis of numerical algorithms for partial differential equations with a focus on applications to problems with dynamically changing geometry". The topic of Zahedi's EMS Prize lecture was her recent research on the CutFEM method of solving fluid dynamics problems with changing boundary geometry, such as arise when simulating the dynamics of systems of two immiscible liquids. This method combines level set methods to represent the domain boundaries as cuts through an underlying uniform grid, together with numerical simulation techniques that can adapt to the complex geometries of grid cells cut by these boundaries.
FEATool Multiphysics is a physics, finite element analysis (FEA), and partial differential equation (PDE) simulation toolbox. FEATool Multiphysics features the ability to model fully coupled heat transfer, fluid dynamics, chemical engineering, structural mechanics, fluid-structure interaction (FSI), electromagnetics, as well as user-defined and custom PDE problems in 1D, 2D (axisymmetry), or 3D, all within a graphical user interface (GUI) or optionally as script files. FEATool has been employed and used in academic research, teaching, and industrial engineering simulation contexts.
Rolf Rannacher is a German mathematician and a professor of numerical analysis at Heidelberg University.
Alison Ramage is a British applied mathematician and numerical analyst specialising in preconditioning methods for numerical linear algebra, and their applications to the numerical solution of partial differential equations. She is a reader in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Strathclyde.
