<p>Anyone here doing research in CFD? This seems like an interesting area. </p>
<p>Do you guys use any programming languages?</p>
<p>I am not personally in CFD, but I work closely with those who are. Depending on who you talk to, they seem to use a lot of C/C++, Fortran, Python, Perl and Matlab. Tecplot is a really good thing to know, too. There are probably other things that get used that I am unaware of, but you’ll have to maybe wait for someone who actually does it. As it is, I am thinking about doing a post-doc in that area.</p>
<p>I am doing CFD work and it is a very interesting area. I know for me and the professor I work with on this stuff, we primarily use C and Fortran, though C++is a solid choice too. There is a lot to learn about how to do it but it is awesome.</p>
<p>Yeah programming languages are certainly a part of it but the real work is in understanding the numerical methods behind it and the implications they have on the solution.</p>
<p>Yeah, boneh3ad is right. That’s what I was referring to with the last statement, that there is a lot to learn about how to do CFD, with respect to the numerical methods. Lots of stuff in these areas, but it’s all pretty cool!</p>
<p>Which professor do you work for, aerokid, if you don’t mind me asking?</p>
<p>Dan Bodony!</p>
<p>He is awesome. I took viscous flow (AE 412) with him and it was one of the classes that inspired me to go to grad school. I just saw him today actually at this AIAA conference.</p>
<p>He is awesome! Great story of yours too! What do/did you focus in for grad school? That is the one fluids class I have yet to take but I know he does a great job teaching. I am definitely hoping to learn a lot this semester with him.</p>
<p>I study boundary layer stability and transition. I do experiments now but I’m thinking of doing computations for a post-doc.</p>
<p>Sick stuff man! Good luck with all that research! </p>
<p>Anyways, for those interested in CFD, I would start out getting familiar with basic numerical methods for differentiation, integration, differential equations and finite volume. There are plenty of books out there to teach CFD and numerical methods, so if you are interested in it, buy some books and dive in!</p>
<p>Is CFD mainly dealt with in graduate school? I took both Fluid Mechanics and Numerical Methods this past semester, both undergraduate junior level, and have not heard much about it.</p>
<p>It is a more graduate area for sure.</p>
<p>Some schools have undergraduate courses in it, but most undergrads that learn CFD seem to do it by either working for a professor in their research group or just learn how to use the program like GAMBIT/Fluent but don’t learn the theory. Otherwise it’s primarily a graduate topic because the theory gets incredibly math-heavy or else is very involved and takes more than a semester to teach/learn.</p>
<p>There’s a CFD undergrad course at my school.</p>
<p>What do you guys mean by numerical methods? I think I have some idea, but that area is a bit foreign to me.</p>
<p>Simple numerical methods are things like numerical integration, differentiation, interpolation and 1D root solving. Examples of simple numerical integration is like using midpoint rule or trapezoidal rule but on a computer and breaking up the interval into many elements. A simple numerical differentiation is pretty much taking the limit definition of the derivative and making h small instead of equal 0. A simple interpolation is like a least square fit from statistics or connecting data points with a line from point to point, aka piece wise linear interpolation.</p>
<p>These are the more basic areas, but things get more advanced with linear algebra, nonlinear systems of equations, and integral & differential equations among some of the main scientific computing areas I work with. There are plenty more, like linear and nonlinear programming, functional analysis, shape optimization, etc… So much stuff out there!</p>
<p>I see. That’s something I need to look into. Probably have some better luck in the math department.</p>
<p>Is there anything in particular from the lower division math sequence (calcI-III, diffeq, linalg) that is good preparation for numerical methods? Aerokid you mentioned midpoint and trapezoidal rules, I’m assuming Simpson’s as well (from calc II)? I’m planning to take a numerical methods class (using matlab, but I have also taken a C++ programming class) after spring semester.</p>
<p>All of it is important. Make sure you know Taylor series well also.</p>
<p>Yeah, the midpoint and trapezoidal were just examples. Then you have Simpsons and the far superior Gauss Quadrature. As boneh3ad mentioned, make sure you know Taylor series. These are used for deriving many numerical methods and finding their error and stability properties, etc.</p>