Computational Multi-Phase And Combustion Research Laboratory

The purpose of CoMPAC is to study the fundamentals of multiphase flow and combustion science and the computational approaches that may be required to simulate this phenomena. Particular attention is paid to compressible flow aspects where the Mach number is no longer negligibly small. Active research areas include

• Hot spot auto-ignition and characterization
• Combustion instabilities
• Simulation of liquid atomization in compressible flow
• Unsteadiness models for high-speed particle-laden flows
• Granular flow simulation using Discrete Element Methods
• Particle resolved direct numerical simulation of compressible gas-solid flows
• Blast-tube simulations for traumatic brain injury studies

We use primarily a computational approach towards our studies in these areas and collaborate with experimentalists whenever possible. Students use a variety of computational approaches, from specialized in-house codes, to codes developed entirely by the students, to commercial CFD packages. Most of our simulations are performed on the Iowa State University Condo Cluster and some students have been exploring the use of graphical processing units as an alternative. Large three-dimensional simulations are usually performed on large Federal clusters.