This paper describes the work of development of a virtual two-dimensional wind tunnel using a vortex element method carried by the authors group, explaining the mathematical basis of the method and structure of the virtual wind tunnel. Following the development of an advanced vortex element method, the authors proceeded to development of a virtual wind tunnel, which provides a useful tool for researchers, designers and teaching staffs in the field of fluid dynamics. As the first step of the development, construction of a two-dimensional wind tunnel has been studied. The 2-D wind tunnel works on a PC, and it has such attractive features that once a user prepares a set of numerical data of two-dimensional bodies, he or she can begin immediately unsteady calculation of a flow around either an isolated body or multiple bodies in a uniform flow without any grid-generation work. The calculation provides unsteady characteristics of lift and drag coefficients acting on each body and instantaneous flow patters visualized by distribution of vortex elements. In this paper, the numerical procedure of the vortex element method and structure of the virtual wind tunnel are briefly explained. And typical results of two-dimensional and unsteady calculation of flows around bluff bodies will be demonstrated.
High-Order Numerical Scheme for Vortex Layer Intensity Computation in Two-Dimensional Aerohydrodynamics Problems Solved by Vortex Element Method
