Computational Fluid Dynamics Center

About CFDC

Iowa State University is internationally recognized for its CFD research and educational program, and has educated many of the most prominent pioneers in CFD. CFD is concerned with numerically solving the system of partial differential equations that govern fluid flow in order to simulate and predict the actual physical behavior of fluids in motion, and has become an indispensable tool in engineering design.

Iowa State’s CFD research program began in the mid-60s with an initial focus on the development of new algorithms to solve the governing equations of fluid dynamics. In 1980, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected Iowa State University and the College of Engineering as the site for one of seven U.S. centers of excellence in CFD.

In the last three decades, the development of high-speed computers and new algorithms for analysis has led to remarkable advances in CFD. Computations that would have taken computers of the 1970s years to complete now only require a few seconds on today’s machines. CFD has greatly reduced the need for expensive and time-consuming experimental analyses and model tests.

As the science of CFD has matured, research at Iowa State has entered a new phase to include both algorithm development and application of CFD to solve complex multi-disciplinary, multi-scale problems.  The research in applied CFD centers around a common theme of engineering for extreme environments. Example problems being tackled by CFDC investigators include aircraft icing, film and internal cooling of turbine blades, and multiphase spray combustion. Other active research areas include rotorcraft aerodynamics, hypersonics, mesh generation, large eddy simulation and high-order solution algorithms. The research is currently being funded by a variety of agencies including NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, as well as by private industry.