Publications

Validation Study of the Multi-Fidelity Toolkit

Lance, Blake L.; Krueger, Aaron M.; Freno, Brian A.; Wagnild, Ross M.

The Multi-Fidelity Toolkit (MFTK) is a simulation tool being developed at Sandia National Laboratories for aerodynamic predictions of compressible flows over a range of physics fidelities and computational speeds. These models include the Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations, the Euler equations, and modified Newtonian aerodynamics (MNA) equations, and they can be invoked independently or coupled with hierarchical Kriging to interpolate between high-fidelity simulations using lower-fidelity data. However, as with any new simulation capability, verification and validation are necessary to gather credibility evidence. This work describes formal model validation with uncertainty considerations that leverages experimental data from the HIFiRE-1 wind tunnel tests. The geometry is a multi-conic shape that produces complex flow phenomena under hypersonic conditions. A thorough treatment of the validation comparison with prediction error and validation uncertainty is also presented.