Computational Fluid Dynamics and Propulsion

Professor C. P. T. Groth
University of Toronto
Institute for Aerospace Studies
4925 Dufferin St., Ontario, Canada M3H 5T6

Phone:  +1-416-667-7715
Fax:  +1-416-667-7799
Email:  groth (at) utias.utoronto.ca
Web:  http://arrow.utias.utoronto.ca/~groth/

Education

  • Ph.D. – University of Toronto
  • M.A.Sc. – University of Toronto
  • B.A.Sc. – University of British Columbia

Awards and Honors

  • Past President, current Member of the Board of Directors of the Computational Fluid Dynamics Society of Canada
  • Member of the Scientific Committee for the International Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics

Research Overview

Prof. Clinton Groth is a theoretical and computational fluid dynamicist with expertise in finite-volume schemes for compressible non-reacting and reacting flows and in the development of parallel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) methods.  He also has expertise in the computation of reactive, non-equilibrium, rarefied, and magnetized flows, and the development of generalized transport models and solution methods following from kinetic theory.  His current research focuses primarily on the development of reliable and robust, parallel, high-order, AMR, finite-volume methods mesh for the solution of multi-scale, physically-complex flows and the application of these techniques to numerical combustion modelling, including research on large-eddy simulation (LES) techniques for turbulent premixed, non-premixed, and partially premixed combusting flows, as well as fundamental studies of laminar flames for bio-based fuels under high-pressure gas-turbine-like conditions.  Industrial research partners include Rolls-Royce Canada and Pratt & Whitney Canada, two leading manufacturers of gas turbine engines for aviation and power generation applications.  He is the author and co-author of nearly fifty journal articles and nearly 120 conference papers, has been involved in organizing both national and international conferences, is currently a member of the Scientific Committee for the International Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics and University of Toronto SciNet Technical Advisory Committee, and is a past president and member of the Board of Directors of the Computational Fluid Dynamics Society of Canada.

The current and planned research activity of Prof. Groth’s CFD and Propulsion group includes: (i) development of AMR and embedded mesh strategies for treatment of complex and possibly moving geometries and interfaces using hybrid multi-block meshes consisting of both body-fitted structured and more generally unstructured grid blocks; (ii) development of high-order finite-volume spatial discretization procedures on structure and unstructured mesh for improved solution accuracy; (iii) development of fully anisotropic mesh refinement techniques with refinement criteria based on dual-weighted reconstruction and residual error estimates; (iv) design of efficient and scalable parallel implementations with two-levels of parallelism – coarse-grain parallelization via domain decomposition and fine-grain parallelization – for more effective use of future petascale and exascale high-performance computing hardware; and (v) and development of improved parallel implicit time-marching schemes based on Newton-Krylov-Schwarz (NKS) approaches.  Targeted applications of the new advanced computational tools would include the prediction of high-pressure combustion and pollutant emissions, including soot, for conventional and bio-based fuels, LES of thermo-acoustical phenomena in turbulent premixed flames, and the prediction of non-equilibrium micro-channel and plasma flows.