Seminar 9th March 2015 3 p.m. 344/32 - Conference Room at National Oceanography Centre
Turbulence in CFD models, with applications in coastal engineering
Dr Aggelos Dimakopolous
HR Wallingford
- Submitter
- Luke Goater
About half a century ago, the first numerical models that promised the “real thing” (numerical solution of Navier-Stokes equations) were developed; their nemesis, turbulence modelling, appeared at the same time. For the first CFD models, direct modelling of turbulence was inconceivable, as much as the modern advances in IT technology were at the time. With the computer technology taking off after the 80 ‘s and the rise of high performance computing, more puzzling acronyms, such as RANS, LES, DNS, k-epsilon, SGS, made their way in the engineering dictionary. Today, most of these acronyms are present as “tick-the-box” options in most modern commercial and open-source CFD software. The aim of this talk is to shed some light on the theoretical background and the appropriate utilisation of the models behind acronyms, (almost) without the equations; and present some example applications in the field of hydraulic and coastal engineering.
The speaker
Aggelos is a highly regarded modeller and senior engineer within the coastal structures group at HR Wallingford, where he has been working for about 3 years. His work focuses on numerical modelling of wave propagation and breaking, modelling of fluid-structure interaction and modelling turbulent flows through multiply connected domains (i.e. vegetated and porous media flows). Prior to that, he served as a visiting researcher at the University of Cyprus and a Post-doctoral investigator at the Instituto Superior Technico in Lisbon, Portugal. Aggelos had completed a PhD in coastal engineering (2009) at the University of Patras, with a thesis on the Numerical Simulation of three-dimensional turbulent flow induced by breaking waves in the coastal surf zone under the supervision of Professor Athanassios Dimas.