Welcome
Welcome to the research page of Dr. Esteban Ferrer. I am Professor in Applied Mathematics at the School of Aeronautics (ETSIAE-UPM) in Madrid and specialise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
My main research interests include: Fluid dynamics and numerical methods, h/p Spectral and Discontinuous Galerkin high order methods, aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, turbulence modelling, flow stability, optimisation, machine learning for aeronautics and renewable energies such as wind and tidal turbines.
Current research
My current research deals with a variety of topics concerning mainly aeronautical applications. I focus on developing more accurate and cost efficient numerical computations and using post processing tools to extract relevant flow features from complex computations.
In our research group at ETSIAE-UPM (Ferrer CFD), we actively interact with industry and attempt to answer their needs with new mathematical and numerical developments.
Fluid Dynamics & numerical methods
We develop various high order (order ≥ 3) solvers for fluid dynamics (i.e. incompressible, compressible, multiphase).
These solvers are characterised by low numerical errors (i.e. dispersion and diffusion) and their ability to use mesh refinement (increased number of mesh nodes or h-refinement) and/or polynomial enrichment (p-refinement) to achieve highly accurate solutions. High order methods provide exponential decay of the error for smooth solutions instead of the algebraic decay provided by low order techniques, see figure 3.
During my doctorate studies at Oxford, I created a 3D unstructured and parallel incompressible high order (order ≥ 3) Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) solver for the Navier-Stokes equations. One of the main accomplishments in this project was the development of a unique sliding mesh capability that allows for high order solutions of rotating bodies. The solver can cope with two dimensional triangular and quadrilateral elements and has been extended using Fourier series to encompass three dimensional flow features. Laminar and turbulent regimes can be simulated by means of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) or Large Eddy Simulation (LES) closure models. The solver has been verified and validated for a range of flows including bluff body flows, airfoil aerodynamics and cross-flow wind and tidal turbines (i.e. Darrieus type), see figures 1 and 2.
Fig 1: DG-Fourier solution snapshot for a 3D simulation of a three bladed turbine:
(a) Pressure contours, (b) Iso-surfaces of z-velocity
Fig 2: DG-Fourier solution snapshot of the flow around a 3D circular cylinder in the wake of a 3D pitching NACA0012 blade: (a) Pressure contours, (b) Iso-surfaces of z-velocity
Fig 3: DG-Fourier convergence for a Poisson equation: L2 error against number of Degrees Of Dreedom for h and p refinement, boxes show the polynomial order. High order methods enable a significant reduction of the error with fewer DOF that when using low order methods.
Aeronautics & aerodynamics
We actively collaborate with the aeronautical industry to provide advanced aerodynamical data using state of the art CFD techniques.
Fig 4: CFD simulations for aeronautics
Fig 5: DG-Fourier solution snapshot of the flow around a 2D arifoil at high angle of attack. Polynomial order is P=7.
Wind & tidal turbines
I am also interested in wind and tidal turbines, since prior to my PhD at Oxford, I worked for six years in industry (in the UK and Spain) as a research scientist and consultant for CENER, the Renewable Energy Centre in Spain, applying various CFD techniques to provide better understanding on wind turbine flow physics.
Fig 6: CFD simulation of a three bladed horizontal axis wind turbine
Fig 7: CFD simulations showing the effect of wind turbine blade tip on the tip vortex generation