SEDS Research Seminar “Shape Optimization of Lift and Thrust generating surfaces with the aid of IsoGeometric Analysis – SOLTIGA”
The Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences and National Laboratory Astana invites you to the research seminar “Shape Optimization of Lift and Thrust generating surfaces with the aid of IsoGeometric Analysis – SOLTIGA”
Presenter: Konstantinos Kostas, Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, SEDS NU
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Abstract: This research project focuses on the development of computational tools for optimizing the design of aeronautical and marine/maritime functional free-form surfaces, such as airfoils/hydrofoils, wings, blades, and propellers. As a common feature, the functionality of these products depends on their shape and even small variations of it may have significant impact on their performance. The goal of this project is to develop seamlessly integrated advanced tools for modeling and simulation, targeting the materialization of the design-through-analysis concept, which nowadays constitutes a prerequisite for efficient PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) in all industrial sectors producing highly-complex products. More specifically, we managed:
1. To establish new Boundary Element Method (BEM) tools for assessing the design of aeronautical and marine/maritime functional free-form surfaces (airfoils/hydrofoils, wind/tidal turbine blades and marine propellers) based on IsoGeometric Analysis (IGA).
2. To achieve a seamless integration of Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) and numerical-simulation tools by exploiting NURBS and T-splines technology for the exact and low-cost representation of complex geometries.
3. To establish an optimization framework that allows the automatic shape optimization of the geometric entities under investigation.
4. To apply these tools in design, simulation, and optimization of functional free-form surfaces, which are of significance in aeronautical, shipbuilding and green energy technologies.
5. To demonstrate the enhanced properties of the adopted approach through software prototypes for optimizing the performance of airfoils/hydrofoils, wind/tidal turbine blades and marine propellers.
Short bio: Dr. Kostas is an Assistant Professor at the department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering, Nazarbayev University (NU) focusing on Computer Aided Geometric Design, Applications of Isogeometric Analysis and Design Optimization Methods. He holds a diploma of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and a PhD in Virtual Reality and Applications to Ship Life-Cycle Modelling from the same institution. He has spent several years as a researcher in NTUA, participating in numerous European Community projects and publishing in journals and conferences ranging from the journal of Computing and Computer Aided Design to Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, and international conferences on Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics. Between 2010 and 2015, he was serving as an Assistant professor in the department of Naval Architecture, University of West Attica (UNIWA) and from August 2015 has joined the School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University. His book on “3D Design & Computations in Rhino3D”, ISBN 9789609732086, is used as a course book in both NTUA and TEI-A and a chapter on “Boundary-Element Methods and Wave Loading on Ships” appeared on Wiley’s Encyclopedia on Computational Mechanics, eds Erwin Stein, René de Borst and Tom Hughes. His interests span from Virtual Environments, interference detection and crowd modelling to parametric geometrical modelling and application of isogeometric analysis to Boundary-Element methods. He is currently the principal investigator in two NU-funded research grants. He has actively participated in more than 20 EU and national funded research projects, he acts as reviewer for several CAD/CAGD, Mechanical, Naval Architecture & marine Engineering journals, and he has published more than 60 papers in international journals and conference proceedings.
