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This report represents a summary of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project to develop general purpose unstructured grid techniques for solving free and moving boundary problems in computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer. Both control volume finite element and Galerkin finite element techniques were utilized. A very robust technique for keeping the deforming mesh from tangling was implemented; the mesh was treated as a fictitious elastic body. Sample results for an ablating nose tip and buoyancy driven flow in a box are presented. References to additional publications resulting from this work are included.

Delta is an object-oriented code architecture based on the finite element method which enables simulation of a wide range of engineering mechanics problems in a parallel processing environment. Written in C{sup ++}, Delta is a natural framework for algorithm development and for research involving coupling of mechanics from different Engineering Science disciplines. To enhance flexibility and encourage code reuse, the architecture provides a clean separation of the major aspects of finite element programming. Spatial discretization, temporal discretization, and the solution of linear and nonlinear systems of equations are each implemented separately, independent from the governing field equations. Other attractive features of the Delta architecture include support for constitutive models with internal variables, reusable ``matrix-free`` equation solvers, and support for region-to-region variations in the governing equations and the active degrees of freedom. A demonstration code built from the Delta architecture has been used in two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations involving dynamic and quasi-static solid mechanics, transient and steady heat transport, and flow in porous media.

The longitudinal chromatic aberration (LCA) of the human eye was determined between wavelengths 458 and 633 nm for ten observers by incorporating Argon and Helium-Neon Lasers into a Badal optometer system such that tonic (or “dark focus”) resting positions of accommodation could be measured under darkroom conditions. A mean chromatic range of 1.87 D was found between 488 and 633 nm. The range increased slightly to 1.91 D when the experiment was repeated under cycloplegia on a subset of three subjects. Additional wavelengths (458 and 476 nm) for a further subset (four subjects) increased the range to 2.65 D. This magnitude of LCA would support recent predictions based on Abbe and Pulfrich refractometery analyses of the dispersion of the human crystalline lens and ocular media.