Aiaa 99-3303 Advances in Automatic Overset Grid Generation around Surface Discontinuities

A scheme is described for the automatic domain decomposition and creation of overset grids around surface discontinuities. Curves along surface discontinuities are called seam curves. The seam curves are rst automatically extracted from a multiple panel network description of the surface. Points where three or more seam curves meet are automatically identied and are called seam corners. Surface grids that cover the local region around the seam corners are then automatically generated. The seam curves are automatically trimmed away from the seam corners, and hyperbolic surface grids are grown from the trimmed seam curves. Examples of complex grid systems created with the above scheme are given for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle, a generic nned-store con guration, and the Hyper-X research vehicle. Steady and unsteady ow solutions are computed for the rst two cases, respectively, and the computed ow results are compared with those obtained using more conventional grid systems.