Problem Statement: The analysis of flow around a LIGO Observatory and methods used to counter the aerodynamic effects.

Tools: ANSYS, Solidworks

Concepts: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Vibrations and Control, Turbulent Flows, Solid Mechanics, Differential Equations, Vorticity.

To
July 2023

From
January 2023

Tasks:

  • In this project the main objective is to reduce the aerodynamic effects of turbulent winds on a LIGO Observatory which is a place where sensitive and accurate experiments are required to be performed.

  • Hence, the aerodynamic effects of winds impact these calculations and through this project I designed, simulated and analyzed different methods to reduce them.

  • Firstly a 2D layout of the building is designed and visualized from the Literary resources provided by the clients.

  • I personally worked on designing a fence with multiple variables which had to be made fixed values by running the simulations and comparing the force and turbulent kinetic energy of the winds in different cases.

  • The variables considered for this study are given by: Porosity, Height, Width, Distance from Observatory.

  • Firstly, meshing was performed with great precision and advanced settings on the building to ensure accurate results around regions required for analysis.

  • The parameters like skewness, aspect ratio, orthogonolity and smoothing were modified through a series of iterations until the fineness and coarseness of the mesh were balanced.

Tasks:

  • Multiple assumptions and values were used to calculate and simplify the differential equations to arrive at the constants which were required to calculate parameters required for meshing and setup(on the right)

  • Then, continuous iterations were run until optimum values of the parameters for the fence were obtained as mentioned above.

  • These values were used to obtain pressure fields, velocity contours, vorticity trace patterns and other parameters determining the accuracy of the simulation like residuals.

  • Other values and graphs for the Coefficients of Lift and drag were documented as well.

  • Further theoretical conclusions were derived from the observed vorticity trace patterns.

Results:

  • The Porosity must 30%, the height must be equal to the structure and the distance from the structure must be 1.5 times the length of the Fence.

  • The timesteps must only be considered from 500 to 1000 as the previous timesteps only create noise and corrupt the data.

  • The vortices trace pattern show that a huge vortex behind the structure helps in sucking all the smaller vortices colliding with the structure to the back from around the building because of the low pressure created.

  • Hence, the simulation is concluded with the consolidated report given below.