Background

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University (2003--2008)

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University (2001--2003)

Bachelor of Engineering
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney (1996--2000)

Bachelor of Commerce
Department of Economics and Business, The University of Sydney (1996--2000)
 

Research Interests

Rotorcraft Flow Analysis

Helicopter aerodynamics presents many challenges to researchers because of its complexity in the flow field and the fluid--blade interactions. It's highly nonlinear and there are other things to consider such as articulateness of the rotor and the aeroelasticity of the blades. My dissertaion goal is to be able to accurately predict and calculate the aerodynamics properties of helicopter rotors using Time Spectral method (Gopinath & Jameson, 2005). It's an alternative way of simulation periodic problems. It's cheaper than the traditional backward different formula (Jameson, 1991) and much simpler than the typical nonlinear frequency domain solvers (Hall, 2002; McMullen, 2002) because it does not require the forward and backward Fourier transforms. The flow equations are solved in the time domain by utilising the Fourier collocation matrix to achieve the spectral accuracy.

Another interesting idea that is worth mentioning is the Vorticity Confinement method (Steinhoff, 1994). This method adds a forcing term in the momentum equations where the vorticity is injected back into the vortex core. This should help prolong the vortex diffusion commonly found in most simulations where the number of grid points are not enough.

However, the original formulation was for incompressible inviscid flow, which is quite irrelevant to my work or most calculations in the aerospace field for that matter. There have been improvements in the subsequent formulae introduced by others but none satisfies my own criteria. I'm working on a new formulation that is more appropriate for rotorcraft flows.

Publications

2008
			Butsuntorn, N. & Jameson, A., Time Spectral Method for Rotorcraft Flow, 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, NV, January 7--10, 2008, AIAA Paper 2008--0403.
			Butsuntorn, N. & Jameson, A., Time Spectral Method for Rotorcraft Flow with Vorticity Confinement, 26th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, Honolulu, HI, August 18--21, 2008, AIAA Paper 2008--7340.

Ph.D. Dissertation

			"Time Spectral Method for Rotorcraft Flow with Vorticity Confinement", Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University, June 2008 (Submitted June 3, Degree Conferred June 15).
			Ph.D. Oral Examination Presentation, March 17, 2008.

Resume

			Last updated on June 20, 2008.