MINING DATA FROM CFD SIMULATIONS USING SUPORT

VECTOR MACHINE LEARNING

Octavian POTECAU, Florin Bogdan MARIN
Dunrea de Jos University of Galati
email: florin.marin@ugal.ro

ABSTRACT
The idea of the paper is to use results of previously CFD (computational
fluid dynamics) simulations to train data mining models capable of choosing or
indicating best model to estimate the desired values concerning peculiar aspects
of CFD simulation aims in a much shorter time. Data mining algorithms are
capable of suggesting not only the improvement of 3D model concerning
aerodynamics aspects but also to indicate simulation setup parameters.

KEYWORDS: automotive aerodynamics, data mining, computational fluid dynamics

1. INTRODUCTION
External aerodynamic simulations
using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
are used in the product development and
research process for the automotive
industries. Fluid dynamics simulation
allows engineers to understand the
physical phenomena and to optimize the
performance in respect to peculiar design
aims such as the lift, drag and cross force,
portance which has a strong impact on the
vehicles fuel efficiency, dynamics, and
stability or cooling of engine and brakes.
CFD empowers the engineers and
researchers to analyze these aerodynamics
forces and to determine an optimal design.
Many researcher groups have used
CFD techniques [17] to perform
numerical
simulations
related
to
automotive industry products. Also, this
technique is extensively used in the racing
industry to predict the down force and
drag of cars at high speed [8].
The flow pattern around a vehicle is
very complex and is considering different
resolutions for mesh. For instance we need
high resolution mesh in the volume of the
mirrors to obtain a better model for lower
drag but also so far concern acoustics.
Also to be able to resolve the wakes
behind the vehicle, a fine mesh is required.

However to reduce the computation time

and memory, such a strategy has to be
considered to refine the mesh only in
particular areas within the flow domain.
The common practice in vehicle
aerodynamics studies is to perform local
refinement near the vehicle surface and in
the areas of relatively high velocity
gradients [9, 10, 11].
In industry after simulation of the
process using CFD, the actual physical
process is simulated in wind tunnel to
compare with simulation to confirm
simulations. The 3D model is next
improved based on the simulations and the
again CFD simulations and real testing are
performed. This is time consuming and
with high cost. In this presentation, a
vertical application to perform wind tunnel
simulations of vehicles in an efficient,
accurate and robust manner is discussed.
The definition of physical objects such as
rotating wheels or break cooling systems,
are of a very importance in these studies.
Multiphysics aspects like Fluid Structure
interaction (FSI) such as the deflection of
a spoiler due to aerodynamic loads and its
impact on the lift force of the vehicle.
Fluid Dynamics (FD) implies using
huge data and this translates in
considerable computational resources
needed. These simulations typically

produce multi-dimensional data sets

aiming
improving
fluid
dynamics
concerning specific aspects of the peculiar
test considered. These huge data sets of 3d
objects
refer
to
examination of
streamlines, examination of cutting planes,
iso-surfaces,
etc.
The
graphical
information is used to determine
improvement of the design taking into
account specific goals. In the case of
automotive CFD analysis several aspects
are analyzed such as portance, drag
coefficient, and noise.
The idea of the paper is to use results
of previously done simulations to train
data mining models capable of choosing or
indicating best model to estimate the
desired values concerning peculiar aspects
of CFD simulation aims in a much shorter
time. However the solution presented does
not imply avoiding CFD simulation but
only to suggest the best possible scenarios
in a huge area of solutions. SVM ( support
vector machine) refers to the overall
process of assigning a class to a member
based on previously trained data with a
given dataset. Though there ere is a large
number of predictive data mining
modeling algorithms we choose to use
SVN as a method to suggest 3d model
improvement concerning aerodynamics
and also CFD setup parameters. In general,
artificial intelligence algorithm can be
considered
approximators".
These
algorithms are capable of identifying and
modeling any kind of relationship between
parameters, no matter how complex and
how many, or nonlinear. However when
the possibilities are enormous this
inexact results suggest few good
solutions that are to be further modeled
with high precision.
One approach in finding 3D model of
automobile is to use CFD simulations, to
understand (based on
these usually
complex and highly nonlinear models)
how best to set certain parameters,
distribute airflows, etc. and to optimize
performance of the model. This approach
is highly

Computationally costly and many

times in industry few cases are tested. For
instance auto industry do not produce CFD
models for hundreds of scenario such as
different speeds with small increment, or
side wind, variable temperature flows, etc.
One scenario testing means months of
work
(meshing,
pre-processing,
simulation, testing in wind-tunnel) and
cost a lot.

Fig. 1 Cut planes considered for fluid

dynamics
Typically, these methods are used to
identify the parameter range to keep
certain input parameters to ensure stable
operations. However, in practice, there are
numerous obstacles that put limitations on
the effectiveness of CFD modeling to
optimize automotive performance in real
world as stressed above. The main idea of
the paper is to use previously computed
CFD models to train SVM algorithm. The
algorithm will be able to indicate 3d model
improvements concerning aerodynamics
and also to indicate CFD simulation setup
parameters.
2. TECHNIQUE PROPOSED
A problem in CFD simulation is mesh
optimization. A mesh optimization
strategy for accurately estimating the drag
of a vehicle is suggested based on the
CVM technique taking into account the
effect of different mesh parameters. The
optimized mesh parameters are selected or
suggested by algorithm based on trained
data enabling simulations to be carried out

in a limited memory environment, with

relatively low computational resources;
without compromising the accuracy of
aimed results for the current scenario.

was chosen to maintain Reynolds number

at approximately 10 6.

3d model

Simulation
parameters

SVM algorithm

CFD
setup
parameters

List of
regions on
3d model to
be
redesigned

Fig. 3 SVM algorithm

Fig. 2 3D Models considered for learning

SVM
The study was extended to take
into account the effect of model size as is
well known that the real size means high
computational
resources
whereas
diminished size means fast computation of
the CFD simulation. In this sense a
simplified car model with different scales
are investigated and compared with
previous results learned by the algorithm.
Parameters that lead to optimized values
closer to experiment with less memory and
computational time are identified in the
process and best setup is suggested.
CFD simulation is used as training
data for SVM. 170 CFD automotive
simulations (Fig. 2) have been used for
different speeds for the two models
showed in Fig. 4. The common setup for
all simulations is boundary conditions. The
floor, walls and ceiling of the test section
are treated as a non-slip wall imitating the
wind tunnel conditions. For all the three
size models, the wind tunnel air speed

Mesh base sizes of 50 mm were used in all

fluid uniformly.

Fig. 4 Velocity of the air and pressure for

the interogation 3d model

The mesh within the flow domain around

the car was not divided into several zones.
Others authors are using volumetric
control regions but for the present study
SVM algorithm was difficult to implement
a non-contiguous space. A polyhedral
mesh was used for the mesh. As seen in
Fig. 3 the SVM algorithm was trained with
170 data simulations of the two models
and the interrogation model was in Fig. 4.

The algorithm outputted regions in the 3d

model to be improved concerning
aerodynamics but also CFD parameters
(Fig.5). In the next step refined CFD
modeling is performed to confirm results.
Computation error in the aerodynamic
coefficient between full size and 1:4
models are less than 4%. Initial test
showed the velocity distributions for both
cases are similar. Consequently there is no
significant difference between the full and
1:4 car models for the present study and
we used for training 1:4 models. The main
advantage of using a reduced size model is
it gave a significant reduction in the
simulation run time.

1
2

Fig. 5 Regions of the 3d indicated to be

improved
4. CONCLUSIONS
The present study has shown the potential
use of SVM algorithm as a tool to assess
the aerodynamic improvements of a car
and to suggest CFD parameters for a high
resolution testing with CFD. The presented
method is an alternative procedure that can
handle the geometric complexity, and at
the same time high efficiency of the
simulations performed on regular grids as
is suggesting best setup for CFD. This
represents a significant advance in the
application of CFD to realistic flows as
from a wide area of simulations to be
performed at high resolution (dozens to
hundreds), which is extensively time
consuming, will suggest only few that will
require less time.
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