Heuristic optimality criterion algorithm for shape design of fluid flow

This paper presents a heuristic optimality criterion algorithm for shape design of fluid flow. In this algorithm, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is utilized to calculate the flow field of a fluid domain which is divided into elemental cells. A heuristic optimality criterion is applied for cells at the solid-fluid interface, i.e. the dynamic pressure for fluid cells and the viscous stress on their neighboring solid cells. An automatic program is processed step by step to exchange the positions of solid and fluid cells identified by the optimality criterion, with the objective of decreasing the flow resistance at the constraint of constant fluid volume. To illustrate the procedure of this algorithm for shape design of fluid flow, two simple examples are presented: one with fluid flowing through a right angle elbow and the other through a converging T-junction. Numerical results show that this algorithm can successfully reduce the total pressure drop of the system, demonstrating its potential applications in engineering optimal design. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.