A Thermodynamic Application Program Interface for CFD and Analysis

摘要

There are numerous thermodynamic models available via software programs and libraries that span the range of complexity from calorically perfect gas to equilibrium chemistry to calorically and thermally imperfect gas. There are often advantages for using one software library over another, but the interface for each is different requiring specific code in a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) or analysis tool to access the underlying model. To provide a single interface for all thermodynamic software libraries, the Thermodynamic Application Program Interface (TAPI) was developed. TAPI provides a portable single interface for the CFD or analysis driver and a well-defined approach for wrapping any thermodynamic package as the model. A method to significantly improve the efficiency of the more expensive models through a quadtree database approach is available. A physics module provides common methods to compute static/total and shock jump conditions. This approach has been incorporated into three CFD codes and a general analysis package that provides a THermondyamic extension to NACA 1135 (THX 1135).