A Geometric Model Simplification Strategy for CFD Simulation of the Cockpit Internal Environment

Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) simulations are essential for optimizing the design of a cockpit’s internal environment, but the complex geometric models consume a significant amount of computational resources and time. Arbitrary simplification of geometric models may result in inaccurate calculations of physical fields. To address this issue, this study establishes a geometric model simplification strategy and successfully applies it to a cockpit. The implementation of the whole approach is divided into three steps, summarized in three methods, namely Sensitivity Analysis Method (SAM), Detail Suppression Method (DSM), and Evaluation Standards Method (ESM). Sensitivity analysis of the detailed features of the geometric model is performed using the adjoint method. The details of the geometric model are suppressed based on the principle of curvature continuity. After evaluation, the suppression degrees of detailed features with different sensitivity levels are obtained. The results demonstrate that this strategy can be employed to achieve precise simplification standards, thereby avoiding excessive deviations caused by arbitrary simplification and reducing the significant costs associated with trial-and-error simplification.