Industrial CFD and Fluid Modelling in Engineering, 3rd Edition

A special issue of Fluids (ISSN 2311-5521). This special issue belongs to the section "Mathematical and Computational Fluid Mechanics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 1869

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, 35131 Padova, Italy
Interests: compressible flows in turbomachinery; scale-resolved CFD methods; wall-resolved and wall-modeled large-eddy simulations; internal and external fluid dynamics problems; high-performance computing in CFD
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few decades, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the formulation of advancing numerical algorithms have led to previously unexpected progress in understanding fluid motion. Despite this, dealing with realistic industrial problems through CFD approaches is still incredibly challenging. This is due to the geometric sophistication of industrial reality and the complexity of the flow topology involved in applications, as well as the computing powers needed to carry out full-scale simulations. In addition, even though full-length simulations of realistic engineering devices have been successfully performed, the underlying modeling assumptions often cause issues. In the industrial context, the Reynolds average Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach has shown great flexibility, and today, it can be considered the leading and top-rated strategy. However, by modeling all scales of motion, this technique introduces heavy modeling hypotheses that must be carefully examined and verified a posteriori. On the other hand, more accurate methodologies are being developed, and one imminent technique will use time-effect variations related to fluid motion as core parameters for analyzing the fluid dynamics of industrial devices. This Special Issue intends to collect the foremost ideas concerning the modeling of industrial flows. Ample space will be reserved for validating RANS techniques in real applicative geometries (e.g., aerodynamical components, turbomachinery, conversion energy systems, fluid machinery). Moreover, the coupling of these techniques with optimization algorithms and operative research methods is also of interest. Authors are invited to contribute innovative ideas concerning fluid modeling, such as contributions to the formulation of new turbulence models, novel approaches for wall-bounded flows and, in general, new CFD paradigms. These may include the formulation of innovative algorithms or the coupling of existing techniques with a view of formulating new paradigms for greater efficiency and more accurate results in industrial computational fluid dynamics.

Thus, the potential topics of the present Special Issue include but are not limited to the following:

  1. Large/detached eddy simulations;
  2. RANS modeling validation;
  3. Optimization strategies;
  4. Aerodynamics and turbomachinery modeling;
  5. Super/hypersonic flows;
  6. Multiphase and reactive flows.

Dr. Francesco De Vanna
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fluids is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • industrial CFD
  • aerospace fluid mechanics
  • turbomachinery
  • optimization methods
  • large-eddy simulation
  • detached eddy simulation
  • wall-modeled LES
  • computational gas dynamics
  • multiphase flows
  • reactive flows
  • numerical modeling in fluids
  • turbulence modeling
  • energy systems

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 6982 KiB  
Article
Digital Twins: A Solution Under the Standard k-ε Model in Industrial CFD, to Predict Ideal Conditions in a Sugar Dryer
by Verónica Guerrero-Hernández, Guillermo Reyes-Morales, Violeta Alejandra Bastián Lima, Jorge Ortega-Moody, Quelbis Román Quintero Bertel, Gerardo Aguila Rodríguez, Blanca Estela González Sánchez, Claudia Ceballos-Díaz and Luis Carlos Sandoval Herazo
Fluids 2025, 10(6), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids10060146 - 1 Jun 2025
Viewed by 825
Abstract
Currently, emerging technologies such as digital twins, through the application of frontier techniques, have achieved physics-based simulations that reduce time and costs. Hence, its application is of the utmost importance in the industry, mainly in the sugar drying process of sugar mills for [...] Read more.
Currently, emerging technologies such as digital twins, through the application of frontier techniques, have achieved physics-based simulations that reduce time and costs. Hence, its application is of the utmost importance in the industry, mainly in the sugar drying process of sugar mills for an updated version of the process. Sugar mills lack process control, leading to unexpected issues. Sugar mills with poor process control cause operational problems. This article presents significant innovation in the field of industrial process optimisation through the integration of digital twins with the k-ε standard model in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The primary objective of this publication is to predict the ideal conditions of a centrifugal sugar dryer using CFD through the k-ε standard model to analyse the aerodynamic behaviour of the ambient air by applying heat through heat exchangers to obtain a suitable mass flow. The mathematical model was carried out under an energy balance to the thermodynamic system to study the behaviour through a simulation in MATLAB R2017 and an air-fluid simulation of drying with software CFD 2015. The results proved that the model of the thermal system and frontier conditions, when applying CFD, carried our simulation and remained stable. The ideal operating conditions of the centrifugal sugar dryer can be predicted effectively, with an energy saving of 4.25%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial CFD and Fluid Modelling in Engineering, 3rd Edition)
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 3596 KiB  
Article
Boundary Layer Separation from a Curved Backward-Facing Step Using Improved Delayed Detached-Eddy Simulation
by Matthew R. McConnell, Jason Knight and James M. Buick
Fluids 2025, 10(6), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids10060145 - 31 May 2025
Viewed by 915
Abstract
Curved surfaces are a feature of many engineering applications, and as such, the accurate prediction of separation and reattachment from a curved surface is of great engineering importance. In this study, improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is used, in conjunction with synthetic [...] Read more.
Curved surfaces are a feature of many engineering applications, and as such, the accurate prediction of separation and reattachment from a curved surface is of great engineering importance. In this study, improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is used, in conjunction with synthetic turbulence injection using the synthetic eddy method (SEM), to investigate the boundary layer separation from a curved backward-facing step for which large eddy simulation (LES) results are available. The commercial code Star CCM+ was used with the k-ω shear stress transport (SST) variation of the IDDES model to assess the accuracy of the code for this class of problem. The IDDES model predicted the separation length within 10.4% of the LES value for the finest mesh and 25.5% for the coarsest mesh, compared to 36.2% for the RANS simulation. Good agreement between the IDDES and LES was also found in terms of the distribution of skin friction, velocity, and Reynolds stress, demonstrating an acceptable level of accuracy, as has the prediction of the separation and reattachment location. The model has, however, found it difficult to capture the pressure coefficient accurately in the region of separation and reattachment. Overall, the IDDES model has performed well against a type of geometry that is typically a challenge to the hybrid RANS-LES method (HRLM). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial CFD and Fluid Modelling in Engineering, 3rd Edition)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop