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A model for implicit representation of fibrous and woven preforms used for composites manufacturing is described. The method is based on a level set function defined on a structured mesh to implicitly capture the complex fiber and weave geometries. Since most software packages used to model woven preforms are based on unstructured mesh, a numerical model for transforming a discretized surface to a structured mesh representation and vice-a-versa is presented. Specific emphasis is on scalable computation of a level set function for large and complex 3D woven structures from a triangulated surface of the smallest unit (yarn). The model is applied to capture a periodic 3D layered 5-harness satin (5HS) weave geometry on a structured mesh. Geometric transformations needed to efficiently compute the level set function for the 3D structure on a high resolution mesh are described. Effects of mesh resolution on the geometric features such as number of resolved fibers, effective fiber size, and the surface area to volume ratio of the iso-surface are analyzed. Using the distance property of the level set function, an approach to evaluate the structure function resulting from transient evolving topology representing densification due to matrix phase depositions is also presented. The approach captures transition of the geometric characteristic from fiber governed at early stages of densification to yarn governed at the terminal stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of turbulence on knock development and intensity for a thermally inhomogeneous stoichiometric ethanol/air mixture at a representative end-gas autoignition condition in internal combustion engines are investigated using direct numerical simulations with a skeletal reaction mechanism. Two- and three-dimensional simulations are performed by varying the most energetic length scale of temperature, l T , and its relative ratio with the most energetic length scale of turbulence, l T / l e , together with two different levels of the turbulent velocity fluctuation, u ′ . It is found that l T / l e and the ratio of ignition delay time to eddy-turnover time, τ ig / τ t , are the key parameters that control the detonation development. An increase in either l T or l e enhances the detonation propensity by allowing a longer run-up distance for the detonation development. The characteristic length scale of the temperature field, l T , is significantly modified by high turbulence intensity achieved by a large l e and u ′ . The intense turbulence mixing effectively distributes the initial temperature field to broader scales to support the developing detonation waves, thereby increasing the likelihood of the detonation formation. On the contrary, high turbulence intensity with a short mixing time scale, achieved by a small l e and a large u ′ , reduces the super-knock intensity attributed to the finer broken-up structures of detonation waves. Either τ ig / τ t less than unity or l e = l T even with a large u ′ is found to have no significant effect on super-knock mitigation. Finally, high turbulent intensity may induce high-pressure spikes comparable to the von Neumann spike. Increased temperature and pressure by combustion heating, noticeably after the peak of heat release rate, significantly enhance the collision and interaction of multiple emerging autoignition fronts near the ending combustion process, resulting in localized high-pressure spikes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A second order interface anchoring method has been developed and used with fast sweeping algorithm for reinitialization of a level set function. The algebraic anchoring formulation ensures that the location of the actual interface is preserved, leading to better mass conservation property. It also provides high order accurate algebraic constraint for solving the Eikonal equation on a finite difference grid. Geometric properties of the interface such as surface normal and curvature are subsequently computed from the reinitialized distance function. Various analytical functions for modeling distortion in level set field are considered and accuracy of reinitialization is evaluated using first and second order anchoring schemes. It is also shown that accurate computation of interface curvature requires a high order anchor in addition to a high order fast sweeping method. Mass conservation property of reinitialization is also analyzed by considering test problems from literature including the classic Rider–Kothe single vortex problem. The formulation is suitable for efficient parallelization for both distributed memory and on-node shared memory parallel systems. Scalability and performance of the reinitialization scheme on multiple architectures are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article 'Effects of Turbulence and Temperature Fluctuations on Knock Development in an Ethanol/Air Mixture', written by Minh Bau Luong, Swapnil Desai, Francisco E. Hernández Pérez, Ramanan Sankaran, Bengt Johansson, and Hong G. Im was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 29th May 2020 with open access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]