School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Seminar Series Presents “Baseball Aerodynamics with Unsteady, High-Fidelity CFD”, Presented by Dr. Brent Pomeroy

About the event

Presented by
Dr. Brent Pomeroy, computational aerodynamicist, NASA Langley Research Center

Abstract
High-fidelity CFD of a baseball is discussed. The investigation involves CFD of a true MLB baseball, digitized with 2.56 million point laser measurements. A systematic buildup is presented including static, dynamic, and 6DOF simulations. Simulations were executed with the Kestrel CFD solver including an IDDES scheme coupled with adaptive grid refinement. Insight into the effect of the stitches upon the resulting aerodynamics is of particular interest, with no other high-fidelity CFD being previously performed. This work was performed for technology development in support of the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) program. For more information, see nasa.gov/feature/nasa-baseball-fans-hit-one-out-of-the-park-for-rocket-science/.

Biography
Brent Pomeroy is a computational applied aerodynamicist working in the Configuration Aerodynamics Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center. In this capacity, his responsibilities include natural laminar flow design for transonic flow regimes, high-fidelity computational analysis of the SLS, simulations for the Drag Prediction Workshop, and technology development projects. Prior to NASA Langley, Brent worked in High-Speed Aerodynamics at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois while studying under Michael Selig and his B.S. with Honors from Clarkson University while studying under Ken Visser.