Professor Antony Jameson's Lectures

Mathematics, Computers and Flight from Pterosaurs to Jumbo Jets PUBLIC LECTURE
Wednesday, Februar 17, 2010 - 4:00 p.m., Alumni Center Ballroom (refreshments will be served at 3:30 p.m.)

Abstract: The lecture will examine the evolution of animal and human flight, and the role of mathematics and more recently computing, in our understanding of flight and how all aspects of aviation are now dominated by computing, with particular reference to the contributions of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and its current and future impact.

The Current and Future Impact of CFD - Advances in Higher Order Methods ENGINEERING LECTURE
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - 4:15 p.m., Engineering Lecture, A226 College of Engineering (refreshments will be served at 4:00 p.m.)

Abstract: The current status of CFD is reviewed, with emphasis on aeronautics, highlighting successes and shortcomings. In light of continuously increasing computer power, it should be feasible in the near future to calculate turbulent vortex dominated flows. The most promising route to this goal is to move to higher order methods, but in order to treat complex geometries we need methods which will work on unstruc¬tured meshes. Ongoing research by Jameson’s group at Stanford on these issues will be reviewed.

A Sequel to Lighthill's Early Work - Aerodynamic Inverse Design and Shape Optimization Via Control Theory MATHEMATICS LECTURE
Friday, February 19, 2010 - 3:35 p.m., Mathematics Lecture, 101 Love Building (refreshments will be served at 3:00 p.m. in 204 Love Building)

Abstract: Reflecting on Lighthill’s early work on the inverse problem of airfoil design for specified pressure distributions, aerodynamic shape optimization is presented as a problem of control theory applied to systems governed by partial differential equations. This leads to an extension by Lighthill’s approach to design of airfoils for transonic flows and also to three dimensional design of wings and complete aircraft configurations with the flow modeled by the Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations. A three dimensional transonic shape optimization will be demonstrated in real time with a laptop computer.