In sectors like aerospace, automotive, renewable energy, and civil infrastructure, predicting structural responses to aerodynamic loads is essential. Engineers rely on computational simulations to forecast these behaviors realistically, eliminating the high costs of physical testing.
While these tools have transformed how new technologies are designed, many simulations continue to demand substantial computational resources and extended processing times. Addressing this challenge, Dr. Alejandro Aguirre, a faculty member in Usach's Department of Mechanical Engineering, is leading a Fondecyt Initiation Project to develop new algorithms based on the Finite Element Method that will make these calculations more efficient.
The research focuses on aeroelasticity, a field that examines how aerodynamic loads interact with structural flexibility and motion, as well as how the fluid and structure mutually affect each other's behavior.
“Fluid-structure interaction integrates fluid dynamics and solid mechanics to more accurately represent and study phenomena that are fundamental to the design of various technologies,” Aguirre noted.
The project will span three years. Beyond its scientific contributions, the tools developed could directly benefit key strategic sectors in Chile, including wind energy and civil infrastructure, where extreme wind conditions serve as a critical design factor.
“With the proposed developments, we will achieve results with greater precision and faster computation speeds than traditional methods, drastically reducing computational time and resources,” stated Dr. Aguirre.
Based at the University of Santiago's Computational Heat and Fluid Flow Lab (https://cfdusach.cl/), which specializes in simulating thermal and fluid phenomena, the research is led by Dr. Aguirre, who heads the laboratory's Fluid-Structure Interaction research line.